All Just a Dream
by BoazOfEirini
Summary: The Infinite Tsukuyomi had failed. Team 7 had completed their final mission... Or have they? Naruto is hazy and confused, waking up to witness countless parallel worlds, thrusted into the body of his 7 year old self shortly after the Uchiha massacre. He determines to fix all the wrongs in his past life, although it's never that simple. Harem. Partial OOC.
1. Chapter 1

They had done it. They had finally done it. Kaguya had been sealed away. Sasuke and Naruto had finished their fight. They both had lost an arm. Sasuke concedes and finally humbly accepts Naruto's friendship. The infinite Tsukuyomi ended. However, Naruto was bleeding out. He was dying. Sakura came to them at the Valley of the End as fast as she could with Kakashi. She began to heal them, but after finally achieving peace Naruto's body wanted to rest. Unknowingly to him in his last moments, his soul complied with his body. He thought he could he hear shouts from Sakura- shouts from all of team seven. Despite their persistent yelling, Naruto finally had his hero's rest. Like many shinobi before him, Naruto died from battle.

While dying, the world seemed to slow down. Everything was one big dream. In the moment of his death, he felt a surge of Kurama's chakra leave him all at once. Suddenly, he was thrust into a wave of time. Red, purple, and black chakra surrounding him into a tunnel shape. Naruto was able to run miles but go nowhere. Realizing his predicament, he sat down and focused. He absorbed the chakra around him and entered Sixth Paths Sage Mode. He could concentrate as hard as he could, but he could not sense anything beyond the tunnel. Then Naruto noticed something different. The tunnel was playing the outside world. No, different versions of the outside world. Once more, he sought what was happening.

There were multiple realities playing before him, but which was real? In one reality, he saw himself lying in a hospital bed to wake up to Sakura waiting on his bedside. The first thing she realized after almost truly losing him was that she had loved him. She loved Sasuke too, but she decided a real future and family would be with him. Naruto drooled slightly noticing how affectionate Sakura was. In another reality, he saw himself on a mission under the 7th Hokage, Tenten, who had developed and grown into a woman that resembled Tsunade in every way. Yet another Naruto saw where he was born an Uchiha. One where Sasuke was a female, and although he hated to admit it, the man who was his brother was oddly attractive as a woman. He saw another world where Jiraiya acted like a godfather from birth. Among others, he saw: the world where his parents were alive, the world where Sakura was the jinchuriki of nine-tails, and a world where Obito became the 5th Hokage with Kakashi and his wife Rin as Obito's advisors, as well as much more. However, he came to find two that caught his attention. All these others were mere possibilities, ones that could not happen unless changes were before this war, as well as some before his birth. Yet these two caught his eye. In one Naruto was the 7th Hokage, with his wife Hinata at his side, and two children. He created a lasting peace. He never thought Hinata could ever love him in a romantic way, but apparently, she could. Despite this notion that seemed strange to him, the only way he could describe this world he was watching as what is meant to happen if the flow of time went as planned- or written by fate itself.

In the other, he saw Kaguya succeeding with her plan. Everyone but Sasuke was trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, who was lying dead on the ground after having to face Kaguya alone. Naruto had Kurama being extracted from him, causing his heart to fail and start to pass into the next world. Once more Naruto gathered all the chakra he had left to send a pulse beyond the chakra tunnel. What he felt was disturbing. Being distracted by all the different worlds, he didn't even notice Kurama was gone. He felt Kaguya's immediate presence. He felt his body, yet one that he didn't have control over, go completely numb without sensation. He saw his own last breaths. He had died. This was the reality he lived in, or rather died in. Suddenly, the chakra tunnel around him began to change shape as if a living organism and speed up. He continued to watch his body in reality. When Kurama had been pulled out, an enormous beam of bright orange and red chakra had exploded from Naruto's body. Kaguya looked unhappy, as thousands of shinobi began to wake up. The power from Naruto's burst had disrupted the infinite Tsukuyomi. For a minute, Naruto was glad, until he witnessed Kaguya to simply redeploy the genjutsu and kill those who had enough resistance still. Naruto punched the tunnel in rage. In many times of his life, Naruto would quickly have regretted it since the wall of chakra was harder than any material on earth and broke his hand after impact. However, his rage towards the sight of everyone failing- no, _his_ failing- made the pain not even noticeable.

As his rage spurned on, it abruptly stopped, as he began crying uncontrollably. He had lost. He continued to watch the life that should have been with Hinata, as well as the others, as tunnel's ground began to move like a treadmill at top speed. Naruto wishing to hold onto his last moments of consciousness as long as he could, he began to ran as fast as he possibly could. No, faster still. He pushed beyond his limits one last time.

After what felt like hours and possibly even days, Naruto crashed into the wall of dark chakra head first, like a bumbling idiot who became so used to running he didn't realize the "treadmill" slowed down and came to a stop. Naruto quickly got up, gasping for air. He reached towards his head wincing in pain and began to scream, yet after a second the pain was gone. Naruto opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he saw. He was back in his old apartment, sleeping on his bed in his blue pajamas with a frog hat on top. He looked around incredulously. He got out of bed and ran outside before he even thought to change clothes. He climbed to the top of his building and saw the entire village while focusing on the Hokage stone faces. "There are only four: Hashirama, Tobirama, the old man, and Dad", Naruto thought to himself. Now he had to figure out what happened.

First, any proper ninja had to explore and explore Naruto did. Everyone gave him the glare. The evil glare for being a jinchuriki. Many ignored him. A lot of the kids his own age are off playing. While looking around for his classmates he noticed a large group of girls near a playground with a black haired young boy and thought, "Still fawning over Sasuke. That will never change, will it?" The young Uchiha had left the girls behind running away from them- tired of their stupid antics. He could only think about what happened to his family a couple of months before. Instinctually as his rival and nemesis, Naruto moved out of Sasuke's way on the nice stone path near a playground and a lake. But instinctually as his, Naruto jumped in front of the girls and yelled, "LEAVE HIM ALONE! He clearly doesn't like any of you!" Sasuke looked back, surprised by the blonde idiot's sacrifice, and for the first time in a few months, he smiled out of joy he finally had the girls off his back but also smiled that since Naruto did it he thought Naruto understood that right now he wanted to be alone. Sasuke was out of a sight a second later. The girls now put their anger and vented all their rage with unreciprocated feelings of sadness with Naruto as their focus. After around 10 minutes, the girls ran off looking for Sasuke. However, distracted one was still hitting him. The one who is giving the last few kicks is Ino Yamanaka. After growing tired and realizing the other girls were finished Ino turned her back on Naruto and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled.

"What is it trouble-maker?" Ino said questioning him angrily.

"I know you like Sasuke… But if you keep chasing after him at times like right now, when he wants to be alone, he won't ever return your feelings."

"Is that a warning or an insult?!" Ino yelled with a huge vein popping out of her forehead.

"I'm simply trying to look out for him, but if telling the truth is more effective than deception, I might as well tell the truth", Naruto said exhaustively.

"And what's the truth, Naruto?" Ino commandingly asked.

"If you only respected him more when he wants space, but kind to him when he needs a friend, you might have a better chance with him. He is like me, you know? He is alone. He has no parents, and no longer any family to call home. Don't try to force yourself on him, rather try to understand Sasuke." Ino acknowledged Naruto's wisdom with a blush, while not knowing all the details what had happened a short while ago to the Uchiha clan.

Ino then began to respond verbally, "I can't believe I will take advice from a pariah like you, but it makes sense… So why are you doing this exactly?"

"He's my friend", Naruto declared.

"You two are friends?!" Ino said while dropping her jaw.

Naruto, immediately realizing his mistake, while also mentioning the Uchiha incident before he knew the date, corrected the course of action he still could by saying, "We are a lot alike, you know. He might not see me as a friend yet…" "Oh." Ino said interjecting Naruto while he finished, "But I know we will be friends one day. I want to be his friend. Not many are as unlucky as us, so I'm making it my goal to be his friend when he needs one!"

Ino was shocked at his determination. It held a kindness and selflessness that the girls clearly lacked. "Why would you do all of this though?" she asked.

Naruto responded with, "I know we are way different. I know he grew up and lost a family I will never have, but when he hurts I hurt too."

Ino was too shocked at all of this. The oddball prankster showed signs of genuine selflessness, but also an intelligence even she and Sakura lacked- at least when it came to Sasuke. Not knowing what to say, Ino only muttered, "Thank you" and ran off after the other girls, while thinking, "If Naruto was this cool all the time, maybe he would get a group of girls to like him too one day."

Naruto then noticed Shikamaru was watching the whole thing, while all the other kids left after the other girls besides Ino left.

The young Shikamaru walked up to Naruto and said, "What you did were a waste of time and a total drag. But, I want you to know that you are alright Naruto. That Sasuke guy is a real jerk as far I'm concerned, but what you did was pretty awesome. As well as good for a few laughs while you were being beaten up", with the young Nara giggling at the end. "Anyways, I'll catch you later Naruto."

"See you Shikamaru", Naruto politely responded back.

"Hey, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked before turning a 180 and running off like he normally would.

"What is it?"

"Do you want to come play with us? I won't mind as long as you continue to not be a pain."

Naruto laughed and thought, "This is Shikamaru alright. All I know is, this is definitely no genjutsu I'm in." Verbally he responded, "Not today, I have some things to do at my apartment. Do you mind if I play with you guys some other time though?"

"Sure, but if you start acting like an idiot again I won't care if people decide to stop hanging out with you."

"Same to you, Shikamaru!" Naruto said as he ran off.

All Shikamaru could think is, "As if I would do anything stupid. That requires too much work."

Naruto ran back into his apartment- with his body in a constant adrenaline rush as much as his mind was- and immediately checked the date on the calendar. It was June 23rd, 7.5 years after he was born. The Uchiha clan had already been massacred. Naruto and his friends were all in their academy days. He quickly wondered what his homework for the previous days was, only to realize he had some vacation time during the summer from mid-June to the end of August. He sat down, crossed his arms, and on special occasions like this he began to think- think hard- in order to understand exactly what has just happened. Naruto proceeded to think, "My memories are still intact. However, the longer I am here the more it seems everything I experienced before was just a dream or felt like a dream, and the more I remember what has actually happened recently- at least to the physical brain of his seven-and-a-half-year-old self- the more familiar it all seems! Yet, I also remember everything with such detail and over such length of time, I know it cannot be only a dream. Thinking it was only just a dream would be foolish by the standard of the age of my current body. Wait, does that even make sense?!" While rubbing his head roughly from confusion Naruto yelled, "Am I seven or am I seventeen? My body is clearly 7, but I remember the next ten years of my life!" After thinking about it more, he figured since he had lived seventeen years in one life, and now seven in another, it was safer to assume he is closer 24-25 years of age. However, Naruto realized his brain has been overloaded at this point by all information he was taking in and recollecting, and…. he fell asleep.

Naruto woke up the next day, still in the same pajamas he wore yesterday on the hard wooden floor he attempted to meditate on. Once more he began to think to himself, "The infinite Tsukuyomi is the most powerful of all genjutsu. It takes away one's place in time and traps their mind in a world where they are infinitely surrounded by their ideal circumstances. If the world Kaguya was extracting the Kyuubi in was the real world, then it's safe to assume everything… Every world I saw in the tunnel I was trapped in was the world someone else believed to be their ideal."

Naruto, pondering a rabbit trail though, "I wish I know whose ideal world had Sasuke as a woman, had Sakura in love me, I married Hinata… What were the others? A responsible Pervy Sage? It must be Grandma Tsunade's. Who else could ever imagine him being responsible? Kakashi's must have him married to Rin, with Obito as Hokage. Who imagines Sakura with Kurama? She already can be a demon on her own right when she is angry enough. Agghh! There's no point to thinking all of this right now!" The young man once again rubbed his hair vigorously out of confusion. Refusing to stop until he understood, he began to talk to himself stating, "Understanding what the infinite Tsukuyomi does, and in my ideal world I died from fighting Sasuke then I could potentially break the pattern of the infinite Tsukuyomi. My ideal world existed with the world without me by some measure of chance, which also may have been caused by my body failing in the real world due to the extraction of Kurama. Whatever the case, I died while my mind was suspended in time in a world which doesn't exist. I observed everyone's' ideal worlds. In my mind, the giant release of chakra sped up the tunnel, where I started running without getting tired. Or was I tired and I just didn't notice? Back to focus… If the release of chakra allowed me to bend the place and time I was in while under the Tsukuyomi, then it's possible my mind and soul went back into time equal to some variable of the distance I had run. Which happens to be three months before I turn eight. But how did I wake up?!" One last time the blonde over thought himself, and despite all his determination… He fell unconscious. He had spent hours thinking about what could have possibly happened and why- which was clearly a first for Naruto- and he exhausted himself from overworking his brain.

It was now June 25th, Naruto woke up once more. He had not eaten anything in over two days. He listened to his stomach and made some of his favorite instant ramens. While gleefully slurping his childhood favorite, he finally realized when after the beam shot out, the Tsukuyomi was disrupted for some ninja participating in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Since his mind was not directly connected to his physical body in the tunnel of chakra, there no need to assume there could be some type of odd delay between what his body had caused and where his mind was. The moment he hit his head was the moment he was sent back. Naruto then lets out a loud burp in childish fashion without care for basic manners- as if anyone would care since no one's there- and realized, "If I indeed did go back. Who knows? Since only my mind went back and I remember everything as a dream state, maybe was just a dream after all. In any practical sense, it was a dream. I know what happens over the natural course of time, but now it doesn't matter! I can change everything for the better! At least, I hope I can", the young blonde said sight fully. Naruto showered, brushed his teeth, and changed into one of his clean black shirts and orange pants. Naruto has decided to set out on his new mission: he needs to make a better future and live the life he aims for: to be Hokage and protect those precious to him at all costs! "But who can I talk to about it?" Naruto screamed in his head. "I know I can't take this path all on my own!"

A/N: I hope you guys all liked it! This is my first attempt at fanfiction!

Pairings are Open! For now, it's going to be a Naruto Harem. There will be a strong bromance-friendship between Naruto and Sasuke. (More like Gon and Killua from Hunter x Hunter).

 _Poll_ : I have set up a poll for the Naruto ship! I personally don't have a preference that strongly yet. If you have any other ideas, let me know. Yes, that means this doesn't have to be cannon. After all, Naruto sees he could fall in love Hinata but he neither realizes how much she loves before the war nor does he actually experience those feelings himself.

A/N 2.0 I deleted this story for a while because I didn't like my stories. I'm re-adding them to because a friend thought it was cowardice of me. I don't plan on finishing this story.


	2. Chapter 2

It was morning on June 25th, two days after Naruto had gone back in time. Right after Naruto had figured out what happened, or rather what he thinks happened, he had left his apartment ready for the new day. Walking through Konoha Naruto was thinking about who he should talk to about his experience. He thought, "What about Sasuke? He is my best friend. No, it can't be him. Sasuke will eventually know, but he can't know right now. I want to curb Sasuke's hatred towards Itachi. Coming from the future and saying what actually happened concerning the Uchiha clan, not to mention if the possibility I'm actually wrong about it, my actions will only make the future worse off. What about Kakashi? He was my Dad's student, and he watched over me when I was little. However, Kakashi would be suspicious out of the ridiculousness of what I say. He _might_ believe me, but Kakashi would be skeptical and unwilling to believe, or at least show he doesn't believe me and in any practical way where all his decisions would not be affected until after the fact. Kakashi is careful and more untrusting than most. Jiraiya is nowhere near Konoha, and I have no idea when he will come back. The only one left I can think of is Old Man Hokage. He knows enough where I could convince him to an extent from my knowledge- if it is still true."

Suddenly it occurred to Naruto one of the aspects _anyone_ would ask are if he can perform the Jutsu he would claim to have mastered in the next ten years. "Can I do any of them still?" the small blonde pondered to himself. "Before I can tell anyone of what I know, I need to know what I can do physically to back that up." Naruto decided to go to the forest outside of Konoha. What Naruto didn't know is that a certain dark blue haired girl with lavender eyes was watching him in the distance. She was watching the boy she respected and crushed on. He was her hero. He faced loneliness every single day, but he smiled through it all. His smile brought her the desire to face her fear. Although, when she actually sees him smile she is too afraid to approach him, and when she doesn't see him smile she has a hard time to fight any of her fear away. Nonetheless, his smile helped her.

Naruto approached an open area in the forest, with Hinata slightly behind using the weak byakugan she had to follow him. The open area was huge, with there being at least a half a mile in width, with a quarter of a mile between trees in length. In the open area, there was several few trees scattered, but no more than 20. Naruto looked around, not noticing Hinata's presence as she had learned to be invisible to Naruto's eyes, and decided the order of jutsu he needs to try. "First, I need to test my basics in chakra control", Naruto mumbled to himself. He put chakra to his feet with ease and ran up the tree. After realizing it was working, he stopped and began walking back down slowly. Now at the bottom, Naruto yelled "Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" He summoned 10 clones. Naruto then realized his chakra control was no problem at all. His chakra reserves were much smaller but still larger than anyone else his age and most ninja who weren't jonin yet. Having Uzumaki heritage granted him natural physical abilities that far surpassed normal limitations. In addition to his massive reserves, chakra control was not something immediately tied to his physical ability, but rather his willpower and experience of doing it. However, he was definitely much physically weaker and slower than he was- at least compared to what he used to after having enormous strength during the fourth shinobi war. Despite such, it only makes sense that he wouldn't lose chakra control.

Naruto decided it was time to do his father's own technique- the rasengan. During the war, Naruto had learned how to use the move with only one hand. He concentrated on his right hand, and slowly but surely he was able to make the sphere spiraling with violent chakra inside of it. Although noticeably smaller than even his first rasengan, while maintaining it he lunged forward at the tree he had walked up a couple minutes earlier. Despite being a powerful jutsu, the seven-year-old boy's technique was still relatively very weak compared to what he is used to. The tree held a small crater in it, but it didn't destroy the tree like he easily could have done in the past.

Next up was seals and summoning jutsu. Naruto could test his sealing techniques at home when he has time and scrolls to test them on. Naruto also has not signed a summoning contract with the toads yet, and thereby could not use summoning jutsu. Naruto had one of his clones who was watching sit down and take in natural energy, as curiosity set in wondering whether or not he could attain sage jutsu. Naruto immediately dismissed the rest of clones, giving his full attention to the remaining clone. After a few seconds, the clone began to look funny and Naruto immediately beat him upside the head. Naruto realized, "There are two reasons both attributing to my failure to use ninjutsu. For one, I haven't made a contract with the Toads yet, nor has my body received Chakra from the Sage of Sixth paths, both attributing to not being allowed for me to attain of their respective chakras. In addition, my chakra reserves, although larger than the average man, are significantly smaller than what I could do when I first achieved ninjutsu."

Naruto sighed loud and depressed. Not having sage jutsu meant not being able to use the rasenshuriken or any of its variations either. There was one last technique Naruto knew of. Although, since he didn't have the key he knew there was no way he could do it. If his body didn't go back in time, then neither would his seal. All he could do was visit his mindscape and try to talk to Kurama. Naruto sat down on the soft grass under the shady tree, put his hands together, and thought deeply.

Naruto had entered his mindscape: a bleak place with yellow and gray covering everything. There was water at his feet as if the place was slightly flooded, and cage as tall as a mountain before him. Naruto approached the prison where the Nine-tails lived. All Naruto heard at first was a roar of pure hatred. After hearing the roar, Naruto's heart broke immediately knowing Kurama's mind was not sent back as well. Then it occurred to Naruto- the half of Kurama currently in him is not the same half sealed in him at their death. Therefore, even if it were possible Kurama's mind traveled back with Naruto, however unlikely, that part of Kurama would go straight into the half sealed into his dad. What Naruto did forget interestingly enough is that Kurama knows Naruto's mind inside and out. Kurama had seen and played through all of these sudden new memories Naruto has, including accepting the possibility Naruto's mind was really sent back. However, Kurama still hated Naruto. He hated the fact he could ever compromise with the bat before him. While thinking about the brat he is sealed inside, Naruto noticed the Nine-tails eyes glaring at him.

Naruto approached the seal and before he could speak Kurama said in an enraged tone, "I know what you are about to ask! The answer is no. I don't remember anything you've thought about over the last two days."

Naruto yelled, "I know! You don't think I know that?"

Kurama mocked, "If you knew that, then why did you approach me?"

Naruto ground his teeth. He knew the fox was right. Still, he had hoped he could work with the fox. Knowing one of the greatest concentrated centers of hatred in the world had become kind was a great voice and encouraged to have in his head.

"If you want to give me your body, I will gladly conjoin and cooperate with you", Kurama threateningly said.

Naruto could only respond, "No dice. I will never let you have free control if you intend on harming people I care about." Kurama gave him an angry and twisted smile. Naruto continued, "I know you've seen my memories, and what we can accomplish together in such short of time. I want- no I need your help if I am to make the world a better place. You might hate the world and everyone in it, but I've met your dad Hagoromo. He loved you and wanted you to be a creature- no a person- of love. People have only hated and misused your power. Even my dad and mom, despite being very loving people, hated you. I don't want to do that, you know! You once told me your name because you trusted me, and even if I have to earn that trust again, even if I have to take on all the hatred in your heart onto myself, I will get you to let go of your hate and earn your help, and more importantly the right to call you your name once more… Kurama"

Kurama's eyes, although huge compared to any humans' already, grew even bigger. He was enraged by what Naruto said. All he could do was roar and yell, "Get out brat! I HATE YOU." Naruto frowned, not out of being upset, but a disheartened face lacking a smile and looked down. Once again Naruto looked up, smiled, and said, "I will conquer your hatred one day, Kurama. I know there's good in you. You're my friend."

"I DO NOT HAVE ANY FRIENDS", the Kyuubi only roared mindlessly, as if he had no personality of his own and was just the mindless creature everyone thought he was. Naruto left the mindscape smiling, letting Kurama think about what happened. Naruto didn't know it, but Kurama was not truly angry with Naruto. He was hurt. No one ever tried to confront his brokenness before. He was reacting as a response to someone confronting him in a way no one ever has- no one since his dad created him. Kurama deep down inside new Naruto was right. He wasn't a being of hatred, and he was deeply touched by Naruto's sentiment of knowing and taking the time to call Kurama by his name. However, he ignored this sentimentality. He refused to give it any foothold into his mind. "I'm just a mindless beast to these awful creatures who call themselves humans", Kurama thought. "If for a second he thinks I will lower my guard down because he tries to be nice to me, he has another thing coming. I will take control of him, and when I escape from this prison I will kill that brat first!"

Naruto woke up after leaving his mindscape. Around 10 minutes had passed. He had covered all of his techniques, "And nobody was watching me!" he thought. He had no idea the small Hyuga girl was still watching him. She had seen it all. She was amazed. The boy who was so weak and failed so much was very talented. After all, "It looks like he almost punched a hole in a tree," she thought to herself. Now Hinata had two questions that processed through her brain, "When did Naruto become so strong? And, if he has been this strong, why does Naruto act out?" Hinata's brain and heart both hurt. She always watched the blonde from a distance for so long now. Just last week she saw him struggle to throw shuriken at a circular target in his spare time, but now he can _walk_ up trees and almost _punch_ holes through them. She didn't know what to think or do. Naruto was different. He was stronger and smarter, but she could tell he was still the same. Whether a gifted genius or a future failure of the ninja world, he had a smile lit up on his face right now as he got off the ground. He was still the boy who faced down constant failure up until this point, and the same boy who faced the hatred of the entire village each and every day for his pranks and something he was blamed for referred to as the "jinchuriki". She still cared for him, even if he was different. He had the courage to face the world in front of him, which she was terrified to do. The boy was now strong enough to save her from physically from the bullies she faced as well. The girl blushed at the prospect of Naruto more than just intervening for her and taking a beating, but throwing a punch back gave power to what his smile stood for. Hinata did the only action she could do after seeing and thinking about all that just happened- she fainted with a blushed face, tomato red reminiscent of Kushina's hair. While she fainted, Naruto had gotten up and left the forest. After all, it was still midday and he had plenty of time to talk to the Old Man Hokage.

Naruto had taken off from the forest a twenty minutes ago, and he was now in town. He was running through a market area of town on the way to the Hokage's office to talk about their situation. While running around, Naruto suddenly stopped. He was taken back. It finally clicked in his head and mumbled, "I'm reliving my childhood." No longer was Naruto running. He walked. His mind took a step back and enjoyed all the people, even those with hatred in their eyes towards him before they passed away or their lives changed from different circumstances. Naruto walked around town, and after a few minutes, he noticed Sasuke coming in his direction, with a whole group of girls their age right behind him. As Sasuke grew closer, Naruto could tell that Sasuke was more than walking in his direction but running away from the girls. In a split second, Naruto developed a plan. A plan stupid enough, it might just work. All Naruto had to do was hide.

As Sasuke, followed by the group of girls, were moving closer to Naruto's position. From an outside view of what was about to happen, those paying attention could hear the faint words of someone yelling, "Transform!" What happened next is Sasuke tripped and fell face first into the dirt. All the girls instantly glared at the man responsible, only to instantly stop after looking at the boy. He was cute. He had black hair, with a charmingly boyish face, wearing a black shirt with khaki shorts. More than that, it looked like Sasuke! Exactly like Sasuke even… In fact, it was Sasuke! A moment after all the girls had changed from anger to joy, they switched to confusion. "There are two Sasuke's?", a short brown haired girl said in the back of the group. A slightly awkward pinkett came to the front of the group and said, "There aren't two Sasuke's. There _can't_ __be two. One of them is a fake, likely the one who tripped the Sasuke we've been chasing around since we've been chasing him around almost all day."

"You're wrong, Sakura", the disguised Naruto said. "I'm Sasuke. This is the idiot, Naruto. In the morning he jumped me when I was sleeping and tied me up with some rope. I managed to free myself an hour ago. I've been running around to find this punk."

"Who are you calling an idiot, idiot? I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't know who you are, but you are not ME", the young Uchiha said.

Ino stepped forward, pointed at Naruto and said, "How do we know you're not Naruto? Two days ago Naruto covered Sasuke by getting between us for a while. You are the one interrupting us with our goal, and no one brought up Naruto except you. Why would you assume its Naruto and not someone else?" As Ino finished her words, Sasuke finally understood who it was and why Naruto was doing this.

Naruto immediately sweated. Even before he went back he wasn't much for misdirection towards women. He had to think and think fast. Then he remembered. As a child, he was a prankster. He used to deception and misdirection as a small kid, but not so much as a ninja with those he would come to view as his friends later. Nonetheless, Naruto did the only thing he knew how to in a pinch. Naruto pushed his instincts and relied purely on what he would do and say on the moment's notice to get out of trouble and win a fight against good fighters.

"Are you really asking that, Ino? I said he tied me up this morning. In a knot. It took me several hours to get out by myself, without any help. I want to teach the idiot a lesson. You say I'm the one bringing up Naruto- I'm the one assuming he is doing something. For one, no one besides Naruto would know I am incapacitated. He is the only one who would think he would get away this. Two, if I was Naruto and this was the real Sasuke, would you really think I'm capable of a transforming identically to the point I could confuse you? Third, interrupting you is beneficial in stopping him. If I prove myself right, you'll help me beat him up. If I'm wrong, I don't care enough about you to let it affect me." Naruto said, with a perfect imitation of Sasuke's proud and angry glare.

"Well, how do we know who is right?", Sakura said.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Ino asked the Sasuke who was still on the ground, with Naruto's foot on him. In that moment, it occurred to Sasuke exactly what Ino was thinking. He was purposely not saying anything, which would only make sense for Sasuke to do. He was the one who wanted to get away from the girls so he could go train. He wasn't resisting anything. He was accepting of everything, but he didn't look guilty at all. This clearly implied he was the real Sasuke. Immediately, Sasuke pushed Naruto and got up. In Naruto fashion, all he did was yell about how stupid that the idea is he would ever impersonate Sasuke. The words were loud and fast together, and then he ended it with "believe it". In that moment, all the girls except Sakura believed they had been chasing around Naruto.

Sakura asked, "What if Sasuke has caught on with what the other Sasuke, who would be Naruto, is doing? And then started acting like Naruto to convince us he was Naruto when he is actually Sasuke?" All the girls then began glaring the real Naruto.

"I know what will prove it. What if we fight? The loser admits to being the fake. After all, only the real Sasuke would win here.", the Uchiha suggested. Naruto agreed. The girls protested. However, neither of the two boys cared. They found an alley behind the BBQ restaurant they always went to whenever Choji got to pick the place. All the girls wanted to watch. They were excited to see "their" Sasuke in action, even if they didn't know who was Sasuke. The two boys knew what the other was thinking. Sasuke would take the fall, and let everyone think he was Naruto. Who would then run off in quiet to train like he wanted to, while the real Naruto distracted the girls for a while? However, this is when the problem started. The real Naruto thought it would a good idea to trash talk Sasuke. It started playfully until it started getting heated. Each insult given out was returned with more force. It got to a point where all the girls almost thought both were Naruto by how uncool both of them were acting. Eventually, Sasuke refused to take it anymore and lunged at Naruto to throw the first punch. Normally, it would be Naruto to do so, however, the young blonde was more disciplined than Sasuke right now. He might be slower and weaker than Sasuke, but Naruto was more disciplined and had significantly more experience. Even more important than both of those, Naruto, still being use to his former speed and strength, had an increased sense of mind over matter which actually made him faster and stronger than where he used to be at 7.

Sasuke had lunged forward with the first punch, straight to Naruto's face. Naruto quickly moved his left up and pushed Sasuke's right away. Now off balance, Naruto lunged forward and punched Sasuke straight in the gut. Sasuke was cut off guard. Unsurprisingly, the girls had taken sides and were rooting who they thought was the real Sasuke, with most of them rooting for Naruto. However, the second Sakura started cheering, Naruto had gotten distracted- noticeably so. Sasuke quickly took advantage and gave a punch straight to Naruto's face as he took air and went onto the ground. He quickly got up. They started fighting again, each of them matching blow for blow. What Naruto lacked in speed he made up for in willpower and experience, with Sasuke matching with the other. All the girls had begun cheering for Sasuke. Except for Sakura. Sakura noticed how she had distracted the accusing Sasuke- the real Naruto. Maybe she wanted it to be Sasuke, or maybe she hoped to prove it is actually Naruto and solve this for herself. Either way, she determined to keep cheering for the man closer to her, regardless of how the fight turned out.

Sasuke gave another quick blow to Naruto's rib cage, with a drop kick to trip him, and followed up with an ax kick to the stomach. Sakura let a loud cheer come out of her mouth, yelling, "Don't just lie there!" Naruto had something come over him. The same feelings he got whenever Sakura cheered for him. He gained the courage to react even faster. Naruto caught the ax kicked and used brute strength to shove Sasuke on his butt onto the ground. Sasuke got up immediately. Before he had a second to react Naruto gave him his strongest punch to the stomach. Sasuke fell to his knees. Sasuke looked determined in eyes. Naruto knew if he didn't follow up with anything, Sasuke wouldn't give up yet. "Not against me", he realized. While Sasuke was still on his knees Naruto gave him a firm kick to his chin. Sasuke was unconscious. Naruto was the clear victor. Everyone cheered.

However, this is when things began to go wrong. Sakura chimed in after Sasuke had gotten up, "Since he went unconscious, shouldn't the transformation jutsu have been dispelled?" All the girls instantly looked at Naruto. He didn't account for this. He got too into his role. All the girls jumped on him. Quickly thinking, Naruto feigned being unconscious. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sasuke get up and leave. After a few seconds of being "unconscious", the girls stopped kicking and punching him, waiting for him to turn into Naruto. As they waited, he didn't change back do to Naruto's concentration. Suddenly one of the girl's yells, "Sasuke is gone!" They finally noticed the Uchiha was gone, yet the Sasuke was before they were still here, and still Sasuke. It occurred in all of them they had been played for a fool. In their minds, they not only were tricked by Naruto, but he tricked them into beating up Sasuke. They had no idea of the truth. As far as they are concerned, they had committed the gravest mistake any of them ever could.

Naruto had gotten up; still transformed as Sasuke. All of the girls were yelling tear-filled apologies. Naruto yelled, "QUIET! I don't care. I will teach him a lesson later. Hopefully, you know now I'm the real Sasuke." All the girls agreed. Ino, remembering Naruto's words from the other day, asked, "Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?"

"You want to know how to make it up to me? Leave me alone when I ask you to", Naruto said with rage in his voice. All the girls agreed. At least for now out of guilt. A month into the future it would go back to normal for the Uchiha, but Naruto bought him some time.

"Do you want to be alone now?" Sakura asked.

"Yes", Naruto said firmly. They all began to walk away.

"Ino wait!" Naruto yelled. All the girls stopped and looked at Naruto. Ino blushed at the transformed Naruto. "I only want to talk to Ino", he continued. All the girls, especially Sakura, sighed and went on. This was Ino's chance. She had taken Naruto's advice, and now Sasuke was approaching her. All the other girls were gone. She wanted to say something. She needed to make good of her first chance alone with Sasuke.

"Ummm… Let's go somewhere else. We are still in an alley. It looks like you want to say something, but we probably shouldn't talk here", Naruto said.

"Alright!" Ino said, blushing.

They walked around a while. Naruto could tell Ino was awkward, but calm about it. She had quick responses to everything Naruto said, and everything with a smile. Naruto wanted to talk to her alone, and thank her what she would have done for Sasuke. It may not have been the real Sasuke, but to Naruto, the heart issue is what mattered more. He could tell some of the girls were following them due to their jealousy.

"Do you trust me Ino?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, of course," Ino said happily.

Without hesitation, Naruto picked up Ino and took off. The remaining girls, one of which was Sakura, were all extremely shocked. Naruto ran straight up the side of a building and onto the roof. Naruto put Ino down. Ino blushed hard. Her eyes were closed and her breath was taken away. Then, Naruto dispelled the transformation.

"NARUTO?!" Ino yelled.

"Yes, it is me. I wanted to say"

"You want to say what? You tricked me?! You made me think you were Sasuke to flirt with me? To talk to me alone like some weirdo?!"

"Quiet down! Do you want to the other girls to think you don't have an edge on them?" Naruto said. Ino blushed.

"W- What?" Ino asked shyly.

"Please, I just made all of the girls jealous of you. They were watching us. They all think Sasuke can trust you, giving you an edge over Sasuke. When you act normal around him and they act crazy out of jealousy, it will further convince him of those two things- you're a normal pretty blonde girl and they are crazy girls who have a crush on him. The kind of girls he would avoid as an adult when he actually makes a choice." It was hard for Naruto to say this. After all, one of the details he had seen in the future that never came is that Sasuke falls in love with Sakura- even if he was not the gushy type. Who is Naruto to take away Sasuke and Sakura's love life?

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that. My screaming didn't help our cover." Ino said.

"It's ok, Ino. I would react similarly. I understand." Naruto said kindly.

"Thanks, Naruto," Ino said with a smile on her face.

"Anyways, I wanted to thank you for what you did."

"What did I do?" Ino said puzzled.

"You were selfless. You willingly asked Sasuke if there is anything you could do for him, knowing he would very well ask everyone to go away and leave him alone. More than that, I could tell by the way you looked at me- with genuine humility- that you were willing to do whatever it took to make it up to Sasuke. You genuinely cared about how he felt about all of this. And seeing how you reacted afterward if you saw how annoyed and in pain Sasuke was, you wouldn't have been one of the girls chasing him today. Honestly, when I finally befriend Sasuke I will happily put in a good word for you." Naruto stated.

"Of course! Of course, I would do that for Sasuke" she said. She then thought "When did Naruto get this smart? Or this kind? He can tell how I feel just by making eye contact with me. And he would put in a good word for me to Sasuke? He's acted so coolly. He's not cool in the same way Sasuke is, but… He's kind. Not only that, he beat Sasuke in a fight! Rather easily it seemed. He's brave. He's strong. Naruto has always been a brat, but now he is different. He is the one who daringly picked me up and carried me here. He is doing this all for someone else, and for me too. He's pretty cool. He might not be as cute as Sasuke, but Naruto has something Sasuke doesn't." There was a long pause in the conversation. Naruto wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to just awkwardly end the conversation and go. After a minute, Ino asked, "Earlier you said you thought I was pretty. Is that true?"

Naruto gulped. "Ummm. I didn't quite mean it like that. I mean you would be pretty to Sasuke if he liked you back, but I wouldn't say that you are pretty."

"Oh." Ino sighed. "Sorry, I was wondering. I thought you… Haha! Never mind. Don't worry about it."

Naruto looked at Ino. She was wearing a light pinkish-orange shirt and dark brown pants. She had neck length blonde hair, with bright blue eyes. She was pretty and looked nice in even the oddest color scheme. There was no doubt about that.

Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry, Ino."

"For what?" Ino said.

"I lied. I do think you are pretty. I just didn't want you to jump to some conclusion and start avoiding me."

Ino blushed. "Why are you afraid of me avoiding you if you don't like me?" Ino said tentatively.

"I don't know. This entire village seems to hate me. Even I don't like you, if you were to reject my "feelings" (Naruto used air quotes), it would still hurt me. Another person who dislikes me all the much more here."

"I wouldn't reject you Naruto!" Ino said without thinking.

"Wait, what? Don't you like Sasuke?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I would reject you. You are kind, and also brave. At least recently. You're a good guy, and if you kept acting like this no girl has any reason to ever not return your feelings." Ino stated firmly.

Naruto thought back to Sakura. She seemed to definitely break that rule Ino believes so firmly. "Well, maybe that's the difference between them", Naruto thought. "It's why Sakura is the one who married Sasuke, and why Ino didn't. She really liked Sasuke, but she wasn't obsessed. At least not yet if she was. Sakura had determined Sasuke was the man she would love forever. Ino determined Sasuke was a brave young man who she wanted to be with romantically at the moment. One **needed** a future with him, and the other yearned for one like a lost romance. Then again, maybe Sasuke only secretly had the hots for Sakura. This is a huge snowballed conclusion to draw to."

"Thank you, Ino," Naruto said with a huge smile on his face. The type of smile, where it's so large you can't help but close your eyes.

"Can you take me down from here now?" Ino asked.

"Of course! Believe it!" Naruto said. "Do you trust me?"

Ino thought for a second. Naruto had proven himself earlier capable of doing it. "Yes, I trust you," she said.

Naruto picked her up in the bridal position and asked, "Where to?"

"Down from here, Naruto!"

"I mean any place you would like to go, besides just down. It's gotten late. It's sunset. I wasn't sure if you needed to go home." Naruto said.

"Actually, you're right. I would be happy if you took me home." Ino said this without realizing what about to happen. Naruto took off. He didn't take Ino to the ground, rather he started jumping across the rooftops with Ino his arms.

"So, you really think I'm pretty, Naruto?" Ino asked, pushing her finger to cheek in a fashion Ino and Sakura did when talking to Sasuke.

"You're very pretty, Ino," Naruto said seriously while focusing on his parkour.

"Hmm? What did you say?" Ino playfully asked.

"I said I think you pretty."

"How pretty did you say I am?"

Naruto sighed. "You are the prettiest blonde girl I know." Ino's face turned into a tomato, but Naruto didn't notice. A couple of minutes went by.

"Why do you ask Ino?" Naruto said puzzled.

"Well.."

"Wait, we are going down," Naruto said. Naruto jumped down and landed perfectly. With a split second in time, he had put Ino down and smiled at her.

"Well, it is nice to have to options of course! Bye Naruto!" Ino smiled and ran inside.

"Bye Ino! I will see you later!" Naruto yelled. Naruto laughed inwardly at Ino describing him as an "option."

Naruto didn't know it, but for the first time in Naruto's life he had a girl's approval and would _say_ it. Unbeknownst to him, he also a girl who developed a crush on him. Ino had walked in her house and blushed for the next twenty minutes and smiled constantly. Ino told her mom and dad about her day at dinner. Ino's dad was impressed by Naruto's skill, concentration, and communication with Sasuke. More surprisingly, he was impressed by Naruto's sudden maturity. He could tell Ino had developed a crush on Naruto. However, Inoichi wasn't the type of man to care. He would support his daughter, especially as long as she wasn't getting any actual suitors who were trying to marry her. "Who knows, Naruto could develop into a good young man. It's too young to judge who he will be for who he is now" he thought. Ino was smiling,

Naruto had finally arrived at the Hokage's office. The night just started.

Naruto approached the Hokage's office and knocked. The Hokage wasn't sure who it would be this late. Ninja are the only ones bother to come to him at this hour, especially right before he leaves for the night. "Come in," he said. Naruto walked right in and said, "Lord Hokage, we need to talk." In the most serious and respectful voice, he could manage as a seven-year-old.

"What is it Naruto?" Hiruzen said in his tired, kind tone.

"I have no idea how to describe it… But something is wrong with me. I don't mean the Kyuubi, nor being without parents. It's something else. I'm not exactly sure, but I think I had a premonition."

"Of what?" Hiruzen was worried. When did Naruto find out he was a jinchuriki?

"The next 10 years."

Hiruzen was taken back. Naruto was dead serious. The type of seriousness Naruto only has when asking about his parents. "Explain, Naruto."

So Naruto did. Naruto explained as many details as he could remember and he deemed significant over the next ten years. After he finished with his premonition he explained how it was more than just a premonition with the ordeal against Kaguya. He spent around 7 hours explaining everything. It was now close to 3:00 am.

"Is there any way you can prove all this, Naruto? What you are saying is ridiculous by all means, but I can tell you are serious. Furthermore, you came straight to me. If this were made up, you would go around saying it a long time before you ever approached me about it."

"We are actually alone right now, right Old Man?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

"It's important you are honest. Not that I disbelieve you. But if ninja started going around and saying how I thought I had come back in time where I was a hero, no one would care. However, I am about to possibly divulge the secrets known only to you and the elders of the village."

Hiruzen approached the window, seemingly scanning the field for ninja. "No one is here besides us." He said.

"Here is what I know that only higher ups in the village can know. Itachi didn't betray the village. The Uchiha were planning a coup. He was protecting everyone and gave up his entire life to be the hero we needed, but didn't deserve."

"How did you?"

"Let me finish Old Man Hokage. You already know exactly how I've gained all my information. However, I need to tell you all the secrets I know. I know about the Kyuubi. I know my parents, both the Yandaime, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki. Kakashi received his Sharingan from Obito Uchiha on a mission with Minato's team. Jiraiya is my godfather. Orochimaru experimented on Anko, his former student. Danzo leads root, as well as holds many eyes of the dead Uchiha from the massacre. When my dad gave me the Ninetails, he wanted everyone to see me as a hero, since I was the one who saved the village by being a storage hold. Let's see… what else? Do you want me to show you any of the jutsu I know?"

"Show me all you know. However, can we do it tomorrow?" Hiruzen asked.

"I don't want others to see what I can do as a seven-year-old," Naruto stated firmly.

Hiruzen sighed. "That's alright. Let's go."

They were out in the training fields. "This is the spot where you, Jiraiya, Dad, and Kakashi would all the first train with their teams", Naruto said plainly. "A remarkably insignificant detail, but no one else in the village beside those involved would remember" thought Hiruzen.

Naruto showed Hiruzen all he was capable of. Naruto did not have a whole lot of techniques since he was limited, nor did he have a lot before the wars end anyways. What he could do he showed. What really took Hiruzen for a surprise was the Rasengan. "So you've mastered your father's jutsu?" He asked.

"More than that. It can't work well without Senjutsu, but I've perfected his technique."

"Really? How so?"

"I added wind chakra to it!"

"Show me. If you show me this, with the insurmountable evidence you've presented, and without any reason to lie and your sudden remarkable knowledge and talent, I will have no choice but to recognize what you say.

Naruto summoned two shadow clones. Naruto focused. Even though he knew he was capable, he was tired, and he needed extra help to be sure as possible to get the jutsu correct. After all, he didn't test it. There was no point since he couldn't throw it yet. Naruto had a different idea. The real Naruto formed and helped manipulate the rasengan and wind nature chakra into it. After around a dozen seconds the rasenshuriken was formed. Hiruzen recognized its chaotic nature. It unleashed a loud sound mixing a hiss and a screech. Hiruzen observed. The clone ran to the nearest tree at the safest distance for the Hiruzen and Naruto. He made contact and the tree was destroyed. The clone was too. A huge sphere of white chakra encircled a radius of around 25 feet. After a minute the attack died down. There was nothing left but a crater in its wake. Hiruzen was stunned. It destroyed the trees with ease and left nothing left, and even dug into the ground a couple feet.

"I have no choice but to have faith you in Naruto," Hiruzen said with more shock and fear in his voice.

"Thank you, old man," Naruto said.

"Obviously, this is going to be hard. Everything you say and know points to certainty you speak honestly. However, we have to wait until some of what you said comes to pass. Aspects that don't make sense. When's the first event that you can predict?

Naruto gritted his teeth. Naruto was thrown too far back to predict a major event such as Hinata's kidnapping or the Uchiha clan massacre. The next main event would not be until he graduated and became a genin. Naruto sighed. "It will be around 6 years from now when I graduate and become a genin."

Hiruzen sighed. "We will have to wait until then. I will place my faith in you and help you any way I can. Especially since you know things that only a handful of people in the village know. However, until what you say starts coming true, I cannot react to the events of the future you've told me. I will write a scroll of everything you've said though, just in case I pass away. The 5th Hokage, who would be Tsunade from your dream, should know to trust you by more than just your word, but also a scroll that's only known to the Hokage. This is the best I can do. However, know this. I do not argue the secrets you've told me, but rather admit them to be true to show you I have faith in you. You're Minato and Kushina's son in every right."

"I do need to ask you for a couple favors old man."

"What are they?"

The short blonde gave a big smile. One, you cannot tell Jiraiya anything. Although I would like to know senjutsu and summoning jutsu now, that's not the natural course of the world. I'm not meant to form that bond as I did. I do not want anything like that to come out of me yet. I do not want others to think of me more gifted than how they see me now. It would bring more attention to it than it is time. Second, you cannot tell anyone my signature jutsu is shadow clones. As you know, that's important for failing the genin examine and causing the first event with Mitsuki. As well as let all my teachers think I'm stupid to some extent. Or incapable of ninjutsu, similar to Might Gai. Third, I would like access to my Dad's scrolls. I know he must have written some information on the Hiraishin, and I want to learn my Dad's jutsu. Fourth, I would like some money to buy a sword. A nice sword, custom made. I don't need it now, but eventually. I would like to learn kenjutsu and I have a great idea for a technique. Lastly, when it is time, I want to stop being known as Naruto Uzumaki. My dad wanted what was done to me celebrated, yet I've been treated with hatred. When the time comes… I want to be known as Naruto Namikaze, son of the Yandaime."

Hiruzen, like with many times this night, let forth a huge sigh. What could he do? He knows vital information. Naruto seems to be trustworthy, and he is Minato's and Kushina's son. The third has been backed into a corner, but also by a man who aims to save the world.

"Before I grant you anything, Naruto, how do you plan on stopping Kaguya and saving the world?" Hiruzen asked as it sounded ridiculous each passing moment.

"I plan on ending the cycle of hatred, and preventing Madara from ever coming back to life", Naruto said with a smile on his face.

"How?"

"By training harder this time. And more importantly, befriending Sasuke the way I always wanted to when I was a kid like I am now. I know if I end the cycle of hatred with him, together no ninja in the world could ever stop us. Trust me. One day, he will make even Itachi look weak, and Itachi will be proud. Besides that, I was thinking about if I start training with Sasuke now, together we will become stronger. By the time we are a genin, our abilities will already be vastly stronger."

"That's a problem. If you become stronger like you say you are, then you'll be qualified to graduate earlier." Hiruzen postulated.

"True", Naruto stated. "However, if we both lie about our abilities, then it's no problem. I will convince him somehow. Besides, we need to start stronger, but we **need** to still be team 7 with Kakashi and Sakura with us as well. I am throwing the world's timeline of fate to an imbalance, and I have no idea what the consequences of it are. Plus, the bonds formed between the shinobi of our age group are important. Without the bonds, we form, Sasuke and I will be weak, regardless of how strong we become. We need the will of fire to take its time to develop in Sasuke, with the other ninja. Although I may not need to be the same rank as them in ability, I do need to be with them as it happens, as well prove to you the correct flow of time to show I am correct, to begin with. I can know all things in another world, but that means nothing in this world if they don't follow the same general path. I need you and Tsunade to trust me when the time comes... Besides, I can choose not to graduate. You can't force me to become a ninja."

"All right, Naruto," Hiruzen said.

"I have one last favor old man," Naruto stated plainly.

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked.

"I would also like some money to buy _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_."

"I understand." A minute-long pause entered the conversation before Hiruzen continued, "What's your plan now?"

"I need to train, make Sasuke my brother, and hopefully inspire a couple others to work a little harder than they would otherwise. My dad wants me to end the cycle of hatred. He believes I can do it. I don't know the answer, but this is my goal, as well as to become Hokage! Believe it!

With that, dawn broke. It was morning, and neither of them had any sleep whatsoever. The sunrise was beautiful. It was hope rising over the darkness of the past. The sun was shining a different fate on a new world. Hiruzen smiled and thought, "Regardless of what's true about our future, Naruto has grown into a splendid young man and the Will of Fire carries on inside him."


	3. Chapter 3

A little over a full day has passed since Naruto spoke to Hiruzen. Although Naruto had several tasks for the day, he fell asleep upon arriving home. The following morning Naruto woke up rejuvenated. After getting ready for the day, he dressed in a white shirt with red spirals on the stomach and sleeves with black shorts, then Naruto headed outside.

The sun was shining brightly during the summer morning. Naruto decided his next course of action as if it could be said so formal and official, is to befriend Sasuke. He ran throughout the village, coming across the group of girls that usually chases Sasuke around. However, they were only talking to each other as they walked around the market. "I have no idea where Sasuke is", Naruto realized. "Maybe one of the girls know where he is?" Naruto exhaled a deep breath and lowered his head. "All the girls are mad at me from a couple days ago most likely. There is no way they would help me if they thought for a second I will bother Sasuke. I can ask Ino. But… she is not with them. Great." Naruto thought for a second, remembering Ino's family has a flower shop he helps out at times. "Maybe she is there?" He took off in the direction of the shop.

A light bell rung as a door opened. "Welcome!" Mrs. Yamanaka said as she lit up a bright smile, only to see a blonde troublemaker at her counter. "Hi Mrs. Yamanaka, where is Ino?" Naruto asked tentatively. "She is in the back organizing and trimming the flowers." She replied, pointing in the direction. "Thank you!" Naruto said in his infamous loud voice, with a bright smile on his face. Despite not being a customer and known as a trouble maker, she gave a big smile back silently. She knew he was Ino's friend now.

Naruto entered their back room where Ino was in. Despite being a "backroom", it was very bright with the sun shining through glass on the roof, as it was modeled in a green house's fashion. "Hi, Naruto! How are you today?" Ino asked cheerfully. Naruto responded in a kind tone, "I'm doing good. I'm feeling strong and roaring to go! How are you?"

"I'm fine. I offered to help my mom since I had nothing else to do today. What brings you here? Did you want to buy a flower for a special someone?" She spoke strongly with a smile while turning away coyly at the end.

"Yes, Sasuke"

"You like Sasuke too?!" She yelled with her face flustered and caught off guard- instantly changing to serious with her eyebrows up, her eyes partially closed, and a deep frown on her face. "You're joking right?" she finished.

"No, I don't like Sasuke. Don't be stupid. I like someone else. A girl. You know? Because I like girls, Ino."

"Who do you like?" Ino said quietly, half expecting good and bad news.

Naruto blushed nervously. "Well, for a while now I've liked Sakura. I don't know anymore though after the last few days. If I had to answer I would say her. She's smart, pretty"

"I get it, Naruto" Ino interrupted angrily.

Sensing the tone Naruto said, "Like I said, I'm not sure anymore. She is all those things, but she wouldn't ever like me. She likes Sasuke."

"You never know. Buy her a flower. Tell her how you feel. You're cooler than you think, Naruto. You won't ever know until you try." Ino argued.

"Fine, I'll buy her a flower. I trust your opinion, Ino. Now..."

"That's great! Buy her a rose; it's a flower of love!" Ino put both of her hands on chest and pretended to swoon.

"Alright. Now I have something to"

"Here! Let me help you, Naruto!" Ino reached towards to the most beautiful rose she had just picked and handed it to Naruto. Before Naruto could even progress to his questioning of Sasuke's whereabouts Ino brought Naruto and his flower before her mom. Naruto gave the women 10 ryo for the flower. Ino grabbed Naruto's hand and rushed him to the door and pushed him outside. "Good luck Naruto!" she yelled. "INO WAIT!" Naruto said rushed and frustrated, as he lay down on the ground from Ino being overly excited and pushing him out.

"What?"

"Do you have any idea where Sasuke is? That's why I came. I figured you might have an idea."

"No idea. Good luck Naruto!" she said smiling as bright as the sun.

Once inside, Ino was blushing once again at the blonde she had become so confused over. However, she had faith Sakura would reject him. Yet she also believed in Naruto and thought he had a realistic chance- even if it didn't exist. "I don't know how I feel anymore", she thought. In such a short time her view of Naruto changed drastically. She no longer knew if she wanted to help and be his friend, or if she actually liked him more than Sasuke. She was able to keep her cool, but the more she talked about him with her parents the more she liked him. By the time Naruto stopped in, it took all of Ino's will to keep herself calm and not show any of her cards. Even though she didn't quite "feel" so strongly about him as she did Sasuke, she felt far more embarrassed and out of control around the blonde. What made it even worse is she partially liked feeling so out of control and embarrassed.

Ino had closed the door. "Well, that figures." Naruto thought to himself. It was still early morning, a little passed 8:00. However, Naruto had a new mission. He was going to give Sakura this flower. He began to wander around the market looking for her. "I don't even know if I like Sakura anymore. In my premonition, I saw a future where Hinata fell in love with me. I don't know how to feel about that, but it means I do fall in love with someone else. Which also means I stop caring about Sakura. Right now, Ino is kind to me. I don't like her either, but she is kind, intelligent, and seems to have formed some sort of friendship with me over the last few days. I don't know. It seems I will have to see where things fall. Maybe I will end up with all of them in love with me. Maybe they will all hate me. I've seemingly already changed the future to an extent. Ino was never nice to me until I was much older. Now I know the future is in constant motion. I guess it wouldn't hurt to offer Sakura the flower. At worse nothing really changes." As Naruto finished his thought he saw Sakura walking through the market. She wore a blue and lavender outfit, with her hair tied up in a red bow. Naruto smiled by reflex.

Sakura noticed Naruto. She saw him smiling, walking towards him with a scowl on her face. Naruto then remembered she has ample reason to hate him. He had gotten in the way of the girls and Sasuke. Regardless of who she believed the real Sasuke was, Naruto still got in the way. After a few moments, they were face to face. For a brief moment, Sakura let her inner Sakura out and shouted, "You got in the way of Sasuke and me! You'll pay!" She thrust her arm back, then pushing it forward in what seemed slow motion, gathering more power each and every moment for a punch to Naruto. Unlike normal, he dodged without hesitation. Sakura kept pushing though and ended up falling face first into the ground. "Great! I'm covered in dirt. My outfit is ruined now" she thought. She turned to look up to yell at Naruto only to see him offering his hand to help her up. "He looks sorry", she thought. She extended her arm, and Naruto helped her off the ground. Sakura brushed the dirt off.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to get you dirty. I just reacted", Naruto said while looking at the ground, unable to look her in the eye.

"You jerk! You got in my way yesterday, and you made me fall today. What more do you want from me?" Her tone was that of scorned young woman, unable to care for the other's opinion. Only taking notice to how she hurt and felt.

"I came to apologize for deceiving you yesterday."

"You were clever getting our attention yesterday. It won't happen again. You won't run away again!"

"I thought you had figured it out. I wasn't the one ran. I was the one who tripped Sasuke and started the whole thing so he could escape."

"Ok, what did Sasuke tell us after the other Sasuke ran away after the fight?" Sakura asked to argue for the sake of anger.

"I told you to leave me alone. You always bother Sasuke without caring about how he feels or thinks. I shouldn't say "you" in particular. I mean that group of girls. They never ask Sasuke what he wants unless it is directly related to something they want. You then asked if everyone should immediately, and I said yes. Then I stopped Ino, picked her up, and took her somewhere to talk. There's no way I would know that. If I had run away, I wouldn't risk being seen so close after I had been "caught"."

"I knew Sasuke didn't like Ino!"

"That's fine. None of the girls will believe you if you told them the truth. Isn't this all too intelligent for me?" Naruto said begrudgingly.

Sakura was stunned. She heard the pain in Naruto's voice. She could tell it hurt him. Everyone looked down at him. Yet, there was something about Naruto's selflessness and intelligence behind his words that reminded her of Sasuke- or who she believed Sasuke would be when they married to be truthfully accurate. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you." She finished.

Naruto was surprised. Sakura had never apologized to him in this manner before, at least regarding Sasuke. "Don't worry, Sakura. I wasn't trying to sound that way. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I came to let you know the truth, so you know Ino doesn't have that much of a leg up on you when it comes to Sasuke" Naruto stated with a kind gentleness in his voice as he smiled while putting his hand behind his head and scratching in his semi-nervous fashion.

"Why did you do all that?" she asked vexed.

Naruto responded, "Well, Ino was the one who asked Sasuke what he wanted. She was the one who cared about his feelings. If it weren't for her the group of girls would be bothering Sasuke again today. I let her in on the secret and let the others girls be jealous of her. It seems we've become friends over the last couple days, I figure I would help her."

"But why are you doing all of this for Sasuke?"

Naruto's tone of voice changed to one slightly annoyed and said, "You don't care about he feels. I know you do, but you and all the other girls have been so blinded by your feelings you can't see Sasuke is hurting. You can't see he wants to be left alone. He wants to train and become stronger. You're being self-centered when it comes to him. Not on purpose. You aren't adults expected to get these things, but Sasuke has a burden to bear. You guys make it harder." Naruto paused and clenched his fists. "His entire clan is dead. He lost everyone. He needs time to think and not be surrounded by things he deems childish, even if we are young and it's ok. Besides…" Naruto took a deep breath. Then he explained, "Sasuke is like a brother to me. I can't explain it. I know what it is like to be alone. I have no family. No one who understands. The Third Hokage won't even tell me who my parents were until I had found out on my own. Sasuke is even worse off in a way. I never knew my parents, true. However, he knew them and lost them. He lost all of his family. How can my pain even compare to his? All I know is loneliness. However, when it's all I know -when all I get is scorn from the villagers, looking at me wishing I would die- I think having parents and losing them would have to be more painful. Depending on the perspective, they are both horrible and arguably worse. However, I only know what it is to lack. He knows what it is to lose and lack parents. I know Sasuke is hurting. He will not show it because he needs to become stronger."

Sakura had become teary-eyed. She rubbed her right eye before she could start crying. She saw the pain in both of them and thought "Maybe I should be kinder to Naruto too. If Ino heard this, it would make sense why she would become friends with him. He doesn't seem to deserve to be alone that much." Sakura then said, "How do you know all of this? Why do you care so much? If no one's ever been kind to you, why do you want to be kind to others?"

"The best way I can explain it is when Sasuke hurts… I hurt too. I don't want him to suffer from pain or hatred any longer."

What no one knew is hiding off in a corner was Sasuke- who had been tailing Naruto all day. Normally, Naruto would have been sharpened enough to know what was going on. However, Naruto was lax. He wasn't trying that hard. It was a simple day that he didn't need to be overly stressed over. However, Sasuke heard it all. Sasuke heard Naruto tell Ino he liked Sakura. He heard everything Naruto had told Sakura moments ago. Sasuke, despite all anger he felt inside, cried. In his internal world, everything vanished. Naruto's words kept replaying in his thoughts. All Sasuke could do was cry to himself. It was a simple gesture, but Naruto thought of him as a brother and showed a love for him only Itachi ever showed him. Sasuke tried to pay attention intently but barely could hear the rest.

A minute of silence between Naruto and Sakura had passed. They were just staring at each other, with Sakura giving a blank look. "Anyways, there was something else I wanted to talk to you," Naruto said while beginning to lift the flower in his hand towards Sakura. Immediately, Sakura realized what was happening. She remembered how Naruto got distracted and excited as she cheered him on yesterday. She saw the flower and the blush on Naruto's face. She also realized that's why he was sad when she fell down. He didn't want to hurt her- not when he was about to give her a flower and say…

"I like you Sakura. I know you like Sasuke, but… I can't tell you how I feel. I was sorry for yesterday, and I wanted to make it up to you. It's not much, but I bought you a rose" Naruto said as he handed her the rose. It was large with a deep beautiful red coloring.

"You really only bought me a flower? You like me so much all you could do was that? If you really liked me, you would have talked to me yesterday and not Ino." Sakura didn't know what to say. All that could surface after the emotional shock of the previous part of the conversation was her feelings for Sasuke, and what Naruto did to her yesterday. She knew it wasn't what she wanted to say, but it is what was said. "I don't like you, Naruto."

Naruto's face turned to gloom and looked down. "I knew a flower wouldn't be enough. You always do deserve more. You're smart. You're the prettiest girl I know of. You are always worth the risk of heartbreak", Naruto then picked up his head and gave the biggest smile he could. "I know you deserve the best, Sakura. I'm sorry." A second later Naruto was gone. Vanished without a trace except for the rose in Sakura's hand.

A moment later Sasuke came out of hiding. He walked passed Sakura. She turned around and greeted the Uchiha with a shout, "Hi Sasuke!"

"Good morning Sakura" he grumbled.

"How are you?" she asked blissfully.

"I'm fine. What do you want?" Sasuke was irritated.

"What do I want?" she mumbled to herself. Quickly she thought and said, "I got a rose for you. Do you want it?" while extending out her arm.

Sasuke finally turned around, hit her hand, knocked the rose out and said in a crescendo of anger, "I will never like you, Sakura. Get over it. You don't think of me. You only think of yourself. You say you like me but only ever care about how I would make you feel. There is no part of you that genuinely cares. You can't care because you are not strong enough to care. I will never like you as long as you grovel like an animal like the others girls do. Do you want a chance for me to like you? Do you want a chance for us to become friends? Earn my respect. Stop groveling. I may not believe it, but at least Naruto believes you are better than that. Focus on who you have. Not who you don't. Become stronger. Do you want to be a ninja? Find a real goal besides getting a chance to be near me. Groveling and begging will get you nowhere, Sakura. If you want me, any guy, or anything at all you have to fight for it." Sasuke grew quiet and walked off. Sakura's face was in horror.

Sakura was now alone. All had faded around her. "Sasuke… will never like me? I don't know what to do with that. Am I selfish? I… never meant to be. What do I do? I don't mean to be weak. I just am. He wants me to earn his respect? How do I become strong? I'm just a kid still. I don't know what I want to do with my life. But Sasuke will never like me? No, he said it's possible if I become strong. Can I even become strong? I need a goal too. What can I make my goal? If I choose anything I am going to have to fight for it? He's right. Anything important does need effort put into it- is that what he means by fighting? I want to be a ninja. Do I though?" She repeated the same questions and thought them over what seemed like a hundred times in a couple minutes. She was in shock from what Sasuke had told her.

Sakura looked down, finally showing movement- even if slight. She noticed the rose at her feet. She picked it up and stared at it. "What else did Sasuke say? Naruto… believed in me? He thinks I can do it- whatever Sasuke wants me to do. Do I really want to do it just because he wants me to? No, I can't. If I only do everything from here on out because of Sasuke I will have gotten nowhere. I'm not sure what to do. Sasuke and Naruto both seem to know. Maybe I can ask Naruto. After all, Sasuke won't even look my direction now. Naruto believes in me. I'll go ask him. Can I though? What I said was mean. Sasuke is right; I am selfish and uncaring. Naruto is nice though. He's not like Sasuke. When I was unkind he didn't get angry. After I talk with Naruto, I will talk to my parents as well. I need to understand what's going. I need to know what Sasuke means. I don't want to keep being weak. I can't keep being mean to Naruto or anyone else. They have lives too. They feel pain too. Until I know what I want, I will try to prove Sasuke wrong about me." She looked at the rose and realized how beautiful it was. She might not feel the same for Naruto, as she was in an emotional turmoil she wouldn't experience for another six years, but she appreciated his gesture. "It was selfless of him" she mumbled to herself while painfully smiling to herself. As if on cue, a light rain started pouring down on the village through the sunshine. She remembered Naruto's smile and blushed with a smile of her own.

What had transpired to most happened in a few short minutes, but to the three involved seemed to have time slow down for them. Watching the brief moment where Sakura rejected Naruto was Hinata. She stood off in the distance, as she saw Sakura take a flower and then send Naruto off. Without hesitation, Hinata ran after him. Naruto went to the forest to train. By the time Hinata caught up with Naruto the light rain had turned into a fierce drizzle. Naruto was using multi-shadow clones to spar with himself. They fought fiercely. Hinata observed behind a large tree in an encircled open area. Her tree provided a thick covering, enough to prevent her from getting wet. As the fight went on for what seemed forever, Naruto finally won. He defeated around 15 clones. Even though he was tired, they only landed a couple of blows on him. Breathing heavily, Naruto opened his arms and fell on his back. "Why me?" He said. "I knew she didn't like me, but I still embarrassed myself in front of her. She only ever liked Sasuke. It's no different now. I should just give up. It's fine. I'm only seven after all. Maybe no girl can like me. Maybe no girl will ever want to." A second later, Naruto heard a squeal several feet away. He looked around and noticed Hinata behind a tree watching him. "I guess I better get out of the rain for a few", Naruto said as he began to pretend to unknowingly walk over to Hinata.

Hinata was now sitting down against the back of the tree, breathing in relief thinking Naruto had not noticed her. Within a second Naruto was standing right next to her. "Hey, Hinata! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked with a wide grin on his face.

Hinata blushed at the young blonde. She tried to force words out to answer his question. "H-Hi Na-Naruto. I w-was walking around when it star-started to rain, s-so I to-took cover under this t-tree."

"Of course." Naruto smiled. "Hey Hinata, can I ask you something?"

"O-of course, N- Nar- Naruto." Hinata blushed, and was ecstatic at answering any question he would ask.

"Are you ok? You are stuttering very badly."

Hinata concentrated with all her might. "Yes, I am fine. I'm not sick", she said quietly. "No-nothing is wrong."

"I'm sorry Hinata. I didn't mean to upset you. Every time I hear you talk you seem to stutter. I was wondering… If anything bothered you, or rather if I bothered you."

"N-No! Of c-course, not Naruto! Y-you, don't b-bother me at all!

"Why are you so nervous then? Are you afraid of me?"

Hinata looked down, her eyes half shut. She didn't know what to say. "No, I-I am not a afraid."

"Do you not believe in yourself, Hinata?" Hinata was caught off guard by the question. It was serious. Dead serious. Despite everything in her that urged her not to talk, she did. She trusted Naruto.

"N-no."

"Why not?"

"I-I-I-I'm"

"Hinata, it's ok. Take a deep breath. Speak slowly. I'm not here to judge you. You're my friend. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

Hinata did as Naruto asked. She took a deep breath and did her best to calm down. She then realized Naruto called her his friend- even though they haven't spent much time together. "A-am I re-really your friend?"

Naruto grew nervous. He didn't realize what he said. He has barely said anything to Hinata up to this point. They didn't become friends until they were at least genin. He remembered their time spent together yet to come. He had to think and think fast for a response. Then he remembered some of the things Hinata told him. If they were true, he knew what to say.

"Of course it's true, Hinata." Naruto gave her the biggest smile he could will.

"I'm glad." She smiled with glee in her face.

"Hey, Hinata, you never answered my question. Do you mind if I ask? You don't have to answer."

"I-I don't mind, Naruto." Hinata went to explain her life as they sat under the tree amidst the rain. She spoke slowly and calmly as possible. She went from her history with her family, and her issues with her dad and clan, to how that has become a part of who she is around others. Eventually coming full circle telling Naruto she was thankful the day she met him. It was the first day of the academy, and he had saved her from bullies despite not knowing her. "You always struggles against the odds but gets stronger" she mumbled. She explained how she admired him for that. She didn't often know how to explain what she wanted to say without being forward, but Naruto continued to encourage her to speak her mind. She did. What went on for a couple hours seemed to have passed by in minutes. What was better for Naruto was Hinata's confidence and comfort grew around him. As time went on the stutter she had slowly vanished, although it came back at moments. Soon, it was noon and time for lunch. The rain had stopped and the sun was out again.

"I need to go home soon, Naruto. I'm sorry. I don't mean to end the conversation."

"Are you choosing to leave?" He replied.

"W-well, y-yes."

"Then it's your choice. It's fine. You can _mean_ it. Have faith in yourself, Hinata. I have faith in you."

Hinata smiled and giggled gently. "I understand what you mean, Naruto."

"Hinata, did I ever tell you about my nindo?

"No, what do you mean?"

"I never give up, and I never go back on my word. That is my nindo, my ninja way, even if I am not a full-fledged ninja yet. You see, Hinata, I have a lot of things on my mind. I have goals of my own. I want to become Hokage, among other things. I'm far from the strongest, nor the best at anything really, but I never give up. No matter how many times I fail, I will get back up! Believe it! When I refuse to give up and believe in myself, it helps me gain the confidence I need. I don't know what you will think of it, but I want you to try to do the same. Whenever you doubt yourself, try again. Don't give up until you succeed. If you ever doubt yourself beyond that, trust the fact that I believe in you. I know you can do it- whatever it is you need to accomplish! It may sound silly…"

"It's not silly", Hinata said with a cute smile on her face. "I think you're brave. If you are stronger because of your nindo, then I want to follow your nindo too."

Naruto blushed at the young Hyuga's astonishing words. Every step of the conversation made him nervous as he saw what the future _should_ be. Now he was flushed red. He wasn't sure what to think of Hinata himself. She was cute and very gentle. His thoughts relented. He couldn't act so nervous in front of her. "Thank you, Hinata! Do you really have to go now?"

"Yes, I have to go. Sorry, Naruto. Maybe you could come with me?" Without another moment passing by, Ko appeared before them. "Lady, Hinata! I finally found you! Come! Let us go back home. I'm sure lunch is ready by now." Ko then noticed Naruto next to her and said, "Furthermore, stay away from the brat. He is nothing but trash and beneath you. Now, we are going back home." Hinata looked down. She couldn't muster the courage to say anything. She couldn't say they were friends. Without a moment's notice, they were both gone. Naruto could breathe again. He exhaled and his muscles stopped being tense. "I'm going to end up falling for her and she will reject me, won't she?" he thought to himself. "I guess that's fine. If that fate is the natural course of things- if it is truly meant to happen- it will happen. First, I've become too distracted for now. I need to find Sasuke. I will worry about Hinata later." Naruto's stomach growled. Naruto put his hand on his stomach and said, "I guess I should get some ramen first."

Naruto went back to his home and ate lunch. After he finished eating, Naruto was determined to search for Sasuke. He burst open the door to head outside. A moment after Naruto grew a huge grin. Sasuke was outside waiting for him to come out. "I want a rematch", Sasuke demanded in a quiet and daring tone. "Sure thing, just point the way", Naruto glared with a smile.

They traveled to a small training area. It was a dirt area with a chalk square with several targets for shuriken use on the outskirts. "You make the first move", Naruto said mockingly.

"Fine with me!" Sasuke shouted as he sprinted towards Naruto. Sasuke led off with a fake punch with his right arm coming around to Naruto's side. Naruto went to block and succeeded, but Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm while he also attempted an uppercut with his left. It made direct contact and sent Naruto to the ground. In a matter of a few seconds, Naruto was losing and off balance for the fight.

"You planned that beforehand, didn't you?"

"What if I did, loser?" he sneered.

"It was smart. I didn't think about planning my moves. The last time we started I took advantage of you rushing forward. This time you took advantage of my cockiness." Naruto brushed off the dirt.

"It's your turn to make the first move now", Sasuke goaded.

Naruto lunged forward, delivering a quick strike to Sasuke's stomach. As Sasuke went to grab his stomach instinctually, Naruto folded his hands together and struck the top of his head with his two fists. Sasuke went down. He pushed himself up in a near push up like position and kicked his feet out to trip Naruto. Noticing, Naruto took a step back. "The same thing should never work more than twice!" Naruto yelled.

"We'll see about that!" Sasuke retorted.

Sasuke got up and went for the same move he started with.

"I just said the same move won't work twice." As Sasuke went for the fake Naruto took a step in getting closer to Sasuke, followed with quickly kneeing him in the stomach. Sasuke was down again, but like all the other times he got up. "I won't lose to you!" he yelled. "Well, I sure as hell won't lose to you either!" Naruto shouted back. They began to exchange blows, one after the other for over a half an hour. Surprisingly, as the fight went on Naruto began to grow even faster to Sasuke. "No, I'm getting slower. What kind of stamina does he have that he can keep fighting at the same pace for so long?" Sasuke stopped.

"You finally noticed didn't you? I'm not tired. I'm barely out of breath. I'm fighting just as hard as I did when we started. You realized you already lost." Then Naruto continued in his thoughts, "I'm actually luckier than anything. Who would have guessed my speed and strength would increase as I got used to my younger self? It's not too much, but I'm slightly faster and stronger than Sasuke now, with about much stamina as I usually have ever had."

Naruto spoke to Sasuke again, "What you lack against me in a straight up fight right now is not strength or speed. You need stamina and practice."

"You're telling me what to do?" Sasuke glared in anger.

Naruto snickered, "I'm telling you how to beat me."

They glared at each other for a solid minute, before Sasuke finally spoke again saying, "If I need practice, are you saying you would spar with me?"

"I don't see why not, although you need more than just practice against me. I should say experience as a whole. Sure, I'll spar with you. How often do you want to fight?"

"First, prove to me you can beat me. You talk big, but you still haven't beaten me either."

"Alright." Naruto put his hands together and formed a sign, yelling, "Multi shadow clone jutsu!" There were now 6 or 7 Naruto's, each of them exchanging blows on Sasuke in an easy fashion. He was lying on the ground, bruised all over. "That's cheating! How can you prove you're better than me if you use clones?!"

"I'm better than you because I can use clones." Naruto dismissed the clones and continued, "Besides, my speed is the same regardless. Do you really think I couldn't do the same things my clones did alone? They were there to prove more than I was a better fighter than you, but I also used jutsu to my advantage. I attacked without hesitation continually preventing you from using any of your own. You have a lot of natural ability, but no experience. Especially no experience fighting someone as uncanny as me." Naruto walked over to Sasuke and offered his hand to help him up. Unlike before, Naruto wasn't a total loser to Sasuke yet. Sasuke was at a point where he felt sympathetic to Naruto. They had similar struggles. Sasuke was a still child. He has experienced the horrible reality of death by seeing his family executed in front of him, but nonetheless, he was a child and not a moody teenager yet. He didn't crave power above all. He wasn't sure what to do. All he knew was that he wanted to rebuild and avenge his clan. A chance to become stronger was in front of him, and he took it humbly. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and let him be helped up.

"What you said to Sakura earlier today... Is it true?"

Naruto's face and nervousness turned to something very peculiar. He didn't know Sasuke overheard it, and if it was Sakura who said it to him he wouldn't listen to her, to begin with. In many rights, most people would have blushed in this scenario. Naruto's felt something far worse than fear or embarrassment. Depending on how he treated Sasuke right now could make everything he does pointless. "If I fail here, I will go nowhere and end up repeating 10 years waiting to fail", he thought.

"Is it true, Naruto? Do you hurt when I do?" Naruto's once contorted face switched to a relaxed but surprised expression.

"Yes, I"

"Why?"

Naruto calmed down and spoke composed. "You heard the conversation, you know why."

"There is more to it than that. I can't help but know there is." Sasuke's words ached with loneliness.

"You're right. I see the pain you're in, and I know the path you would be headed down. I don't want you to keep going down it. You're alone. You lost the most important people in your life. More than that, there is a part of me that sees you as something else. You're like a brother and a rival to me. We have similar hurts on our hearts. There are a lot of reasons, as you can see. Above all that, I understand your pain. More than anyone else around here. I don't want you to suffer like I do. Who knows? It's selfish, but I think you feel the same about me on some level. I would like to be friends, not only to ease your pain but to ease mine as well. Deep down, I don't know how to explain other than I know we understand each other."

"When you spoke to Sakura earlier you said we were also different because you never had a family. Why does that make us different?"

Naruto was caught off guard by the question. After all, it was Sasuke who said it to him later. "It does and doesn't. We experience the same pain but in a different way. I would never know what it's like to lose my parents, but you will never know what it is like to never have parents, to begin with. We both have crappy lives."

"Do you really think my pain is worse?"

"From my view, yes. I have never had people to care about me. If one day I woke up and I had my parents, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose them. I've spent every day of my life wondering how different things would be with them. If I finally had that, I could never imagine the pain of losing them."

"You're such an idiot." Sasuke's eyes watered.

"What was that?!" Naruto got in Sasuke's face.

"Thank you, Naruto. I don't want to admit it, but you're right. I miss my family, and when I heard you talk to Sakura earlier today… I understood what you said. I think you're the only one who understands me. You always go around smiling through it all though. It bothered me until you said you wanted to end the hatred in me. Would you not want me to take my revenge against Itachi Uchiha?"

"Yes and no. I think your clan deserves justice, but I don't think you should have to give in to hatred in order to attain justice."

"What if hating Itachi is what gives me the strength to do both of those?"

"It won't." Naruto's fists clenched.

"How do you know?" Sasuke returned to his calm demeanor he had begun to lose.

"Hatred never wins. It only causes more hatred, resulting in the pain we feel now. Doing a hateful act will never stop causing pain. All the villagers hate me. They breed malice in me. It makes me want to hate them, hurt them, prank them to piss them off as well as I can. However, when I do it nothing ever gets better. No one asks me why I'm hurting. No takes notice of me other than to ridicule me. I believe it is up to the one who is self-aware to gather the strength to let go."

"How can you say that? He killed my entire clan! Of course, my pain is greater. How in the hell can you possibly know what it is like to see them die?" Sasuke's anger returned.

"Sasuke, is it easy to hate your brother right now?

"Yes."

"Sit down with me." Naruto and Sasuke both sat in the dirt and continued to talk. Naruto continued to say, "Is it easier to hate or forgive your brother?"

"What kind of question is that?" Sasuke jeered.

"Stop being a pain and answer the question, and you call me an idiot."

Sasuke glared Naruto, "It's easier to hate that jerk."

"Doesn't that mean you have to be even stronger to forgive him?"

Sasuke's anger stopped as if it was instant. "I would have to be even stronger to forgive him."

"What do you think would hurt him more for payback: hating him like he wants you to, or forgiving him and focusing on whatever you want to do?"

"Letting go and focusing on something else."

"Exactly."

"That's easier said than done, Naruto."

"I know. I'm here to help work out those frustrations. It will take time, but it will help. You can become strong all on your own Sasuke. You don't need to hate anyone, feel alone, or be driven by other people's wants for you in order to become strong. Also, you don't need to be strong on your own. If the day comes and you have a chance to fight Itachi: I will be there to help you win." He finished with a smile in Naruto fashion.

Sasuke thought, "I don't know when Naruto suddenly changed. He has something else driving him. He doesn't care about other things anymore, or at least not as much in comparison. There's no way he would offer to help me get away from the girls in the past. He's very serious, but relaxed too." After a short pause, Sasuke asked Naruto, "What's driving you Naruto?"

"I'm going to become Hokage, believe it!" Naruto had gotten up and stuck out his fist towards Sasuke.

"Besides all that. Why do you want to become Hokage?"

Naruto sighed. "Sasuke, I have an answer I could give you now, but it has been a draining day. It requires a while to talk about exactly why I want to be Hokage. In short, though, it is because I want everyone in the village to acknowledge me and to protect everyone I hold dear. When I'm Hokage that will be everyone."

"That's fine for now, Naruto. You can tell me everything later." There was a long-held pause between them, not knowing what to say.

"So you want me to tell you everything later?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Naruto chuckled. "I guess what I'm really asking is, does that make us friends now?"

"Naruto, you asked that as if you don't already believe we are friends. Don't be lame. I shouldn't need to answer that."

"Hey, I promised to help kick Itachi's butt when the time comes! The least you could do is say yes or no!"

"We're friends, Naruto." There was another pause, but a short one as the comfort between them increases, making it easier for them to talk to each other.

"What time do you want to start sparring every day for?" Sasuke asked.  
"How about in the morning around 9? We can train together until lunch. After lunch, if we want to continue training we can do it by ourselves or relax."

"Sounds good. How long do you want to spar with me?"

"As long as we are friends", the blonde mused.

Sasuke laughed and said, "Knowing you, I guess you want to fight me as long as we are alive then?"

"Sounds good then. What do you want to do now?" Naruto asked.

"Train more?"

"Dude, I've had a long day. I am really not down to train. I was hoping something to do that is fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm almost down to train. However, being rejected by Sakura, trying to get close Hinata, and then with all the fighting and talking we just did left me drained."

"Stop complaining, and don't call me dude."

"Fine, bro."

"Do _not_ call me bro!"

"Ok, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy, guy."

"I'm not your guy, pal."

"I'm not your pal, brah."

Surprisingly, this conversation went for another twenty-three minutes before it ended. They were truly bored. However, as their pseudo-argument came close to ending, they began to notice across the stream near their training area were other kids. It was a baseball field. They slowly started gathering more and more there. When their final words were departing their mouths they noticed Shikamaru approaching them. "Hey, Sasuke! Naruto!" Shikamaru waved at them, albeit lazily and half uncaring.

"What's up Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"Hey, guys. Naruto, remember when I offered for you to come play with us the other day? We are going to be playing baseball. I saw you guys over here and figured I would ask if you want to join."

"You're short a couple of players aren't you?" Sasuke retorted.

"Yeah. I would lie, but that feels like too much work right now. Do you want to play or not?"

They looked at each other and grinned. "Sounds like fun." They said in near perfect unison.

After walking over to the field, there were around 30 kids there, although half of them were girls. Among the recognizable faces were what would later be known as the rookie 9 and team guy. Neji likely accompanied Hinata so Ko didn't have to.

"Who should be team captains?" Choji asked.

"Well, who is playing?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru stated it was himself, Choji, Neji, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, seven unimportant guys Naruto doesn't remember from his childhood (their names were Aang, Zuko, Sokka, Gohan, Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro) Ino, Tenten, and Sakura.

"Does Hinata want to play?" Naruto asked.

"I-I'm f-fine. I can ch-cheer everyone o-on. Tha-thank you Naruto." Hinata noticeably didn't exude confidence like normal, but she finished with a smile that left Naruto no doubt Hinata was comfortable without playing.

"We're only playing because they lacked three more people," Tenten said disheartened.

"That's nice", Sasuke said.

"Now, who should be captains?"

"It was Shikamaru's idea to play earlier today. He should be a captain" Ino said.

"Yeah, but Kiba was the one who wouldn't stop complaining until we thought of something to do. He's the one who wanted to do it." Shikamaru argued, not wanting to do anything requiring more work than he already has to.

"Yeah! I should be captain!" Kiba argued.

"No, let's not have someone stupid is captain" Neji chimed in.

"What if we have two idiots be captains? Kiba and Naruto? Or two smart people, Shikamaru and Sasuke?" One of the random boys chimed in.

They all looked at each other. They all knew immediately what the better decision was, much to Shikamaru's disdain.

"You can have the first pick, Shikamaru" Sasuke offered.

"Ok, I pick Neji."

"I pick Naruto," Sasuke spoke without hesitation.

Everyone looked at each other confused. Sasuke _picked_ Naruto first? And they continued on. After picking the other captain options, both Sasuke and Shikamaru offered their first picks to pick the rest of the teams. Everyone sighed. Everything they did was pointless. In near unison, everyone thought, "It can't be too bad."

Team Shikamaru ended: Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, Shino, Gohan, Zuko, Sanji, Tenten, and Sakura.

Team Sasuke ended: Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, Kiba, Aang, Luffy, Zoro, Ino, and Sokka

Shikamaru's team went to the field first. Sakura was the pitcher. Up first was Lee, who struck out. Shikamaru then became pitcher and Sakura went to third base like she wanted to, it was the closest to Sasuke. Up next was Sokka. "Get ready for my fireball!" Shikamaru shouted. "I love hitting those the most!" Sokka hit the ball twice, but foul. On the third pitch, he was too aggressive and missed what most knew was a bad pitch. Next after them was Zuko, who got a base hit, and then Sasuke, who got a double. With two outs in the first inning, Zuko on third, Sasuke on second, Sakura could only think of one thing: "I wish Sasuke was on third base with me."

Shikamaru delivers a pitch low and outside to Naruto. Naruto swings and it goes right passed Sakura, but foul. They all cringed. If it weren't for luck, the hit would have scored two runs since Sakura was daydreaming. Sakura toughened up, remembering her heartbreak over Sasuke. She was ready. Shikamaru delivered a similar pitch, low but right over the plate this time. What seemed more like a golf swing turned into a slow motion hit. The ball flew high and far. Neji was running in the center field attempting to catch the ball. However, the ball managed to cross the stream. Naruto had a hit a home run to start the game. Everyone was stunned, to say the least. Everyone but Hinata and Sasuke that is. Sasuke strutted home laughing at the others who mocked his first pick. Hinata was cheering inside, regardless of how good Naruto was or wasn't, she had faith in him. She would never be surprised at any of his accomplishments.

The game went on, and much to everyone's surprise Naruto not only got a good hit and made a play or two, but did so consistently well every time. The final score ended up being 12 to 10. When Sasuke struck out Sakura and Tenten, with Shino and Neji on base, Sanji was up next. Angered at the two girls' misfortune, he yelled, "THIS IS FOR SAKURA AND TENTEN, AND ALL THE LADIES WATCHING ME RIGHT NOW." He had a powerful hit that shot over everyone's heads that were bound to reach the stream marked for home runs. However, as the ball became only several feet higher than Naruto, who was playing center field, he ran after the ball. Hinata got up and yelled, "I know you can do it Naruto!" It was the first time she cheered the entire game. Inspired at the last moment, he jumped and dove into the stream in order to catch the ball. Sanji was out. Naruto robbed his home run.

"That's game!" Sasuke shouted. Everyone ran over to Naruto, congratulating him on his brilliant catch. Despite being soaking wet; Naruto gave off a big smile.

"If you keep acting like you did today, you can play with us anytime Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled, even against his nature he couldn't help himself at the moment.

"Naruto's cooler than you guys think" Ino stated matter of fact and slightly annoyed.

"Awesome, Naruto," Sasuke spoke calmly, but happily. He extended out his arm to make a bro-fist, which was quickly returned by Naruto.

After a little while, everyone began to leave. It was near dinner time. All the guys said their own goodbyes to the game's MVP. Ino gave a flirtatious goodbye fitting seven-year-olds. Hinata unknowingly went in for a hug, which Naruto returned with open arms. Or at least, he thought she wanted a hug and went for it without caring the consequences. Sasuke said goodbye to Naruto. He wanted to think about everything the rest of the day. At that point, the only people left in the field were a drying Naruto and Sakura- who was waiting for the proper opportunity to speak to him.

"Hey, Naruto." Sakura awkwardly greeted Naruto as if they hadn't seen each other the last couple hours. "At least it contained a genuine smile," she thought.

"Ehhh, what's up to Sakura?" Naruto replied.

"Do… Do you mind if I talk to you about earlier today?" she asked nervously.

"It's fine. What do you want to say?" Naruto was tempted to just say no, but he couldn't. He didn't want to be mean, even if what Sakura might say would hurt him worse.

"I want to apologize to you. What I said was selfish. Your flower was a kind gesture. You went out of your way to talk to me, lessen my fears and jealousy concerning Sasuke, and give me a wonderful rose, but all I did was get angry at you. I was rude and a jerk. I'm sorry." Sakura began to cry. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be mean to you."

Naruto didn't know what to do. Whenever Sakura had begun crying in front of him in the past it was related to Sasuke. Then it clicked in his head. Sasuke heard everything they said, as well as befriend Naruto today rather easily. If he was moved by Naruto's words, it's not out of character for him to be so cold to Sakura and flat out break her heart. "Let's sit down, Sakura." Naruto motioned to the bleachers next to them. "What did Sasuke say to you?"

"How did you know he said something to me?"

"We are becoming friends." Naruto's body relaxed for a moment as he spoke. "He told me he heard everything we said to each other today. It makes sense for him to be heartless to you if he was unusually kind to me if they are connected."

"He showed me how selfish and uncaring I was to you, and to everyone else." Sakura rubbed her eyes. "He challenged me to become strong. He said I need a goal and something to fight for. He also said he doesn't think I can do it, but _you_ do. He told me if I want to have a chance with being his friend or girlfriend I need to stop groveling over him and become strong." Sakura began to cry harder. "I don't know how too though", she said. "How can I become strong, Naruto? How can I know what I want to do?" At this point, Sakura's face was covered in Naruto's chest. She was sobbing almost uncontrollably. "He told doesn't like me, and never will."

Without hesitation or uncertainty in his voice, Naruto said, "That's not true Sakura. He needs to get to know you. He is right though. You shouldn't focus all your time on him. He isn't the center of the world. He is just a person. I think it's noble if you decide a goal for yourself. You don't need to worry about finding it now though. You have your entire life in front of you still. We're just children. Don't worry about what you'll be doing 20 years from now. You're strong and smart. I know you can do whatever you set your mind to." Sakura lifted her head up. Naruto grabbed her hands with his. He looked at her fiercely and said: "I _know_ you can." Sakura was caught off guard. His hands were warm. Even though she didn't have feelings for him, he made her happy. Sakura gave off a big smile. Naruto realized he still holding her hands, immediately let go, blushed, and said, "Eh, sorry about that Sakura. I didn't mean to."

"It's ok, Naruto. Your hands are warm. They're nice." She grabbed Naruto's hands and smiled at him. Sakura leaned in again and put her head against his chest.

"Naruto, what's your goal?" she asked.

"I want to become the Hokage." he replied.

"What, really? You really think you'll be the Hokage one day?" she said with shock in her voice.

"Yeah, I believe I will be the Hokage." Naruto's voice was relaxed but became more serious.

"Why do you want to be Hokage?"

"I want to protect everyone I care about."

Sakura paused and asked, "Who do you care about?"

"Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, the Old Man Hokage, as well everyone else at the baseball game today. Although the first few take greater priority. And of course, you're one of them too." Naruto grinned at his last words.

"You still care about me?" Sakura blushed, being in her slightly compromised position still holding Naruto's hands.

"Of course I do. You're my friend too. Although I would understand if you didn't see me as a friend."

"Don't be silly, Naruto", she mumbled. She looked up at him and said, "Of course we're friends!" with fierceness in her eyes.

"That's good to know." Naruto gave a kind grin. Sakura couldn't tell if Naruto felt sad or happy, or a mix between.

"Naruto, I don't want to give you the wrong idea." She let go of Naruto's hands. "I don't suddenly like you now. Don't think I can't later either. I don't know what I will feel. I do think you are very sweet though. Maybe one day I will become strong and something different will happen between us. Until then, I want to become stronger."

Curious of the honesty and courage in her eyes Naruto asked, "Why do you want to become stronger?"

Sakura flinched back slightly, not sure how to answer the question but gave it her best shot. "I don't want anyone to hurt like I am now. I know my pain isn't the great, especially compared to yours or Sasuke's, but I want to help those who are hurting. I want to protect those who need it. I want to become strong to protect you too, and any other friend I gain." Sakura chuckled. She lessened her grip on Naruto. "I don't know how, but you've inspired me Naruto. It doesn't hurt so bad right now, being next to you. Thank you, Naruto. I know now I want to be stronger, and not for myself but rather for everyone else."

Naruto put an arm around his head and smiled. "I don't know what to say Sakura. I'm glad you were able to figure it out. I always believed you were smart, but it took me much longer for me to decide what I wanted. It's amazing you decided so quickly."

"Well, I'm sure I won't always feel so confident. But here, right now, I know my goal."

After a short pause, Naruto's voice tensed up and forced out the sentence he was wondering. "Hey Sakura, can I trust you?"

"We're friends now, so yeah, you can tell me anything."

Naruto grabbed and as quickly let go of Sakura's hands. He turned another direction, unable to look directly at Sakura. Sakura's face grew worried. She knew something was coming.

"My dad believes in me too. Both of my parents, but my dad is the one who left me with a quest." Naruto's voice began to carry the weight of the man he would be.

"What is the quest?"

"He wants to me end all hatred."

"Is that even possible?! How can you end all the hatred in the world?"

"There's more details that that, but honestly I don't know. All I know to do is to help them bear their hatred and let go."

Sakura looked at Naruto, who refused to look back at her. She didn't understand what he was saying. "Naruto, if you don't mind me asking, I thought you didn't have any parents. How did your dad give you this quest?"

Naruto looked down and folded his hands. "He left me a scroll after he died 7 years ago. It told me who my parents were, what they did, and how much they cared about me among other things. My dad left me some questions that he wanted me to think over, for the sake of the village and the entire ninja world." Naruto got up and was now staring off into the sunset. It was late, very late. He knew Sakura needed to go home, but she didn't care. Sakura, still sitting down, asked, "Who is your dad?"

"My dad is the Yandaime, Minato Namikaze." Sakura was in shock. She could only think, "Naruto's dad was the man who gave his life to protect the village. Talk about high expectations."

She then asked, "If your dad's name is Namikaze, why do you have a different name?"

"My mother was Kushina Uzumaki. I was given her last name at birth. My father was the Yandaime and would have many enemies. Either way, I'm the last of my family. I'm the last Namikaze I know of, as well as the last Uzumaki, and son of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto began to think. "I don't know why I'm telling her this. I get carried away sometimes. I don't have any reason to not trust Sakura though. I've always trusted her after all. She may be younger, but she still has the same heart. She wouldn't be beaten up inside if she didn't care."

Sakura was staring at Naruto, amazed at who he was. He felt a lot of pressure on his shoulders that no one knew of. She did the only thing she knew. She got up, stood beside him, and said, "Thank you. People look at us and think we can't understand since we are young, but you feel more than the pain of being alone. You feel the weight of the village and the world on your shoulders. I don't think I can ever imagine how you feel, but I'm here for you, Naruto." As she finished speaking she grabbed Naruto's hand and stared into the sunset with him.

After a few minutes passed by Naruto said, "Sakura, it's getting late. You should go home soon."

"Yeah, I know." Sakura exhaled a deep sigh. She could stand for this moment for hours. The sun was beautiful, and she felt so sure of herself next to Naruto. A second later Sakura had a plan. "Hey Naruto", she said. "You carried Ino to her home as Sasuke a couple days ago didn't you?"

"Yeah…" Naruto sensed the mischief in her voice. "Why?"

Sakura put her finger to her cheek and smiled, attempting to emphasize her charm. She asked in the cutest voice she can muster, "Would you mind if you carried me home too?" Naruto turned and looked at her. He took in her smile and charm, and the presence of her beauty in a split second. They were still only kids, but Naruto had no doubt. As much as he wrestled inwardly about his future love life, Sakura was the girl he cared about right now in the moment. He stared into her viridian eyes and smiled. The way she looked at him, this was the most beautiful Sakura has ever been. It wasn't physical, but the intent in Sakura's smile. Naruto, truly Naruto, was the boy of her affection in this moment. Naruto refused to let the moment slip by. Without hesitation, Naruto picked up Sakura and carried her. What was a beautiful moment at sunset turned into something wonderfully romantic Sakura only ever dreamed of would happen- even then it was with Sasuke. She took in all of her surroundings and smiled. Sakura was happy- genuinely happy. It didn't matter she was going to lose this wonderful moment soon.

What seemed to be the longest lasting blissful moment of her life ended. They arrived at Sakura's front porch. "Thank you, Naruto!" Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto in the biggest hug she could, and then ran inside. Naruto could only stand there smiling and waving as she ran inside. The day was over. It was night. Naruto stared into the bright sky and was amazed at the beauty the world held in it. His mood of high inspiration was ended when he could hear yelling from inside Sakura's house. He couldn't tell if they were yelling because she was home late, or if it was because of Naruto. "It's probably both", he mumbled under his breath. Naruto went back to his home to prepare his dinner and get a good night's rest. He was finally lying in bed and relaxing. All he could think was, "I probably made more progress in a day with Sakura, Hinata, and Sasuke than I did over years with them before. I guess that's the beauty of actively trying to change fate."

Then it hit Naruto. Actually, to say the thought "hit" Naruto is an understatement. The thought held Naruto down as it repeatedly kicked him in the face and made him eat dirt. Naruto realized, "I've already failed on pretending to not be strong. Everyone knows what I'm capable of now physically. The more I act like this the more it will make sense for to me be believably smart and talented. I can't be those things yet! I'm supposed to be a failure. Sasuke and Hinata know I can do multi-shadow clones. Sakura knows about my family. In a way, it makes sense. I couldn't hide everything forever." Naruto thrashed around in his bed. "I just need to choose my moments and say them in trust. I can still salvage this. Besides, if everyone found out, I can use what I said to Sakura as support for why I'm unusually strong. What happens now is I need to plan my moves more. Or maybe I should embrace what I can do? I cannot prove the premonition true. I know it happened, but I also don't. Things seem to be changing for the better."

Naruto thought more and decided, "I'm going to stick with what I've been doing. I need to be careful and not reveal too much before its time. I'm in a weird place right now. I'm strong, but I'm not overly strong. I still need plenty of time to train! I know my goal currently though. I need Sasuke and me to become stronger. However, I think I should be more direct with Sasuke. I just need to decide how. I will talk with the Old Man and see what he thinks." Naruto closed his eyes with joy and frustration. At first thought, his day was great, although he acted very irresponsible at moments. What was weirder was lying became somewhat second nature. The bonds he formed were based on half-truths and inability to be honest out of the fear of consequences. "I'll deal with it tomorrow." He mumbled to himself as he finally fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto was lying in bed, dreaming of the three girls who have caught his attention. He woke up from shock when all three of them confessed to being in love with him. After getting up he followed his typical morning routine. When he got dressed he decided to wear a navy blue shirt with orange shorts. After finally getting ready, it was a few minutes past 7; he headed to the Hokage's office. It only a few minutes for Naruto to arrive. He entered the office when Hiruzen promptly dismissed two jonin and two chunin receiving instructions on a mission. The Hokage noticed Naruto and walked towards the large window in the back of his office overseeing the village. He lit his pipe to smoke and said, "Good morning, Naruto. Why have you come here today?"

In sarcastic mood, Naruto let out, "You know, the usual pranks. Make people mad and all that."

"Good to know." Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke.

Naruto quieted his voice. "Old Man, is it safe to talk?"

"Yes, there is no one who will hear what we say." He said plainly.

"I've seemed to have made some progress, but in doing so I've revealed I'm no longer as brain dead as they see me. I've also shown a degree of my physical ability- which I believe helped since it is bringing Sasuke and me closer. However, people know I'm not incompetent anymore. I can start acting incompetent but may end up creating the same future I've already experienced. What do you think I should do?"

The Sandaime inhaled and exhaled another puff of smoke. "Have any of them seen your ninjutsu?"

"Sasuke and Hinata have seen Multi-shadow clones. A few girls know I can perform Henge, but can't really prove it. All they know is there was an incident with two Sasuke's. Also, not really jutsu related, but Sakura knows who my parents are."

The Third could only face palm at the finish of his sentence. Everything was easy to salvage, but he let one of the village's greatest secrets be told to a girl of his age. "Well, what you've done isn't so bad. You said your graduating class was the next Ino-Shika-Cho, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Sasuke, Sakura, and you right? If that's true, the Ino-Shika-Cho will be put together no matter what. A Hyuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame put in the same group means they are tracking specialist. In reality, they may have explained it as the worst and the best, but you were the three left over. I wouldn't want to put two doujutsu users on the same team. Nor would I want to put two girls who both struggle with confidence on the same team. They are both intelligent but lack natural talent. If I had to switch anything, it would be you and Kiba. However, Kakashi was commissioned to look after you. He was also your dad's student. It's only right he be your teacher. It seems as long as you don't graduate early you will end up on the same team as them."

"So, you're saying don't get caught using ninjutsu, but everything else is fine?"

"We agreed to not go around telling everyone of your family until it was the right time."

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said in the voice of a disciplined child.

"Obviously, don't do it again," Hiruzen said sternly.

"About that…"

Hiruzen exhaled smoke in an attempt to relax his tense thoughts. "What?" He asked.

"I would like permission to tell Sasuke."

Hiruzen began scratching his goatee and said, "It really doesn't matter what I say. As long as the entire village isn't in an uproar about it. You can do as you wish Naruto. Your fate is in your own hands. If you decide to graduate early, you decide. We will not force you. If you decide to tell everyone all the village's secrets, there will be hell to pay, but we cannot force you."

Naruto went down on one knee, with a fist to the ground, and bowed his head. "I understand Lord Hokage", he said.

"Naruto, I have news. I have a deadline for your sword. It will be finished in around 4 months' time. I have also gathered all the scrolls left by the Fourth Hokage. They are here with me. You can take them home after you depart. Also, I went ahead and picked up _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_ for you. There was a copy with your parent's stuff." Hiruzen pointed to the materials off to the side. "Also, would you like any of the remaining things of your parents? That which doesn't hold the immense value of course, but more emotional things, like such as a scarf your mother knit for you when she was pregnant or old clothes your father wore?"

"Yes, I would appreciate anything you can give me that belonged to them." Naruto teared up and rubbed one of his eyes. "Thank you, Old Man." He continued to ask, "Would you mind if I asked for a cheap, older sword? I don't need anything sharp. I just need something to actually hold to get used to the weight and technique. In fact, I would prefer it if I could practice on a trashier sword before learning on my own customized one."

Sandaime exhaled more smoke, clearing his thoughts. "That sounds alright. Tomorrow comes to my office after lunch and I will have a sword for you."

"Do you have anything for me?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I've been communicating with Itachi. He knows to infiltrate the Akatsuki now and will be doing so soon. He's close to the village and wished to speak to our informant. I told him no for now, but he will be residing on the outskirts of the land of fire for a while as he is waiting for an opportunity to be contacted by the Akatsuki. I don't know how long he will stay there. I wanted to let you know of the circumstances."

"Understood. Is there anything else?"  
"No, all I want is for you to think about meeting Itachi. He might be able to give you better insight into the situation with Sasuke after all, as well if you decide to tell him the full truth he might be more effective."

"Alright."

"You're dismissed, Naruto." After that Naruto grabbed the scrolls before him and sealed them into another smaller sheet of paper, which he folded up and put into his pocket. He immediately went home and undid the seal. He skimmed through most of the material. Before he started reading intensively, he realized he had to head off to spar with Sasuke. Naruto would arrive a few minutes late.

"You're late, Naruto," Sasuke said half uncaring and half angered.

"Sorry, I got lost on the path of life." Naruto mused.

Sasuke could only look at him with a stupefied look. "Are you ready?" the Uchiha asked.

"Always," Naruto said in with anticipation in his throat.

They began to spar intensely. Unlike the previous day, Sasuke lasted an hour before he grew too tired to continue to fight. Once again Naruto was the clear victor. Near the end of the fight, Sasuke realized he wasn't the only one getting stronger from this. Naruto was as well. Naruto may not have to push himself as far, but none the less he pushed himself as hard as he could. Naruto was constantly improving as the fight went on- making adjustments to every move Sasuke made. At the end of the sparring match, they were both out of breath, leaning over with their hands on their knees. Still breathing hard, Sasuke brought himself to say, "I've thought about what you said yesterday."

"And?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

"And what? I said I thought about it. I haven't made any decisions yet."

"Ok then." Naruto's voice reacted frustrated to the moody Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, you don't understand. I haven't made _any_ decisions yet. I haven't decided anything I want yet. I don't know my goals. I know I want justice and revenge. I want to restore the Uchiha. I know I don't want what happened to me to happen to others. I don't know what is more important to me. This isn't something I want to decide immediately. I know deep down that whatever choice I make will determine the course of my life." Sasuke began to walk off in the direction opposite of the sun on the training grounds, then suddenly stopping.

After giving a moment of silence Naruto said, "I know you'll make the right choice."

"What is the right choice?" Sasuke asked with slight fear and anger in his voice.

Naruto spoke with a simplicity of a monk, "Choosing others and not yourself. Forgiveness and not hate."

A longer paused ensued. "What if I make the wrong choice?" Sasuke asked with worry.

Naruto looked down and back at Sasuke. "I don't know." He said.

"Will you try to stop me?" Sasuke looked back at Naruto, making eye contact with the corner of his eye.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"How far it takes you. If you have to lower yourself to Itachi in order to kill him, I will be forced to stop you for the sake village."

"You're an idiot. I wouldn't ever hurt the village."

"Itachi probably thought that too at some point."

Sasuke's anger flamed instantly. "I'm nothing like Itachi!"

Naruto breathed in and out. He then began to speak as patiently and calm as possible, "You aren't now. Itachi wasn't always who he is now either. Do you understand? I'm not saying I doubt you. I'm warning you. Never stop being aware of who you are and how easily it can be to fall away. I never for one second believe I will turn against the village, but it is possible I fall away. What if a new Hokage is selected who is corrupt? What if he covers up the deaths of my friends? How could I sit back and watch? I may be forced to become an outlaw to live for them and to protect the village." Sasuke flinched at his words.

"I see." Sasuke pondered over what Naruto said quickly. "You aren't limiting anyone from turning into a rogue shinobi."

Naruto thought of Obito and said, "Anyone can fall away. No one is free from evil unless they keep _rebelling_ against it."

Sasuke calmed down and asked frankly, "Naruto, do you think I will fall away? Do you have faith in me?"

Channeling his inner sage, Naruto said, "The fact you are asking me shows you won't. I believe in you, Sasuke. I have no doubt in my mind you'll do the right thing. However, I don't want you to ever be caught off guard because of what happened."

"That actually sounded intelligent", Sasuke delivered in a perfect sarcastic tone.

In a simple, straightforward tone Naruto said, "You're an ass."

Continuing in sarcasm, Sasuke let out a "thanks."

"Hey, I have something for you." Naruto began reaching in his pockets for the book.

"What is it?"

"A book. It is titled _Tales of a Gutsy_ ninja. You should read it." Naruto handed the book to Sasuke.

"I'll read it and see what it's about," Sasuke spoke in a studious voice.

"I think you'll like it," Naruto said while chuckling.

"What now?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow while looking at Naruto.

Naruto tensed up. "Now, I have to have you promise me something. You need to keep a secret of mine no matter what."

Sensing the serious tone immediately, he replied, "I won't tell anyone."

"I am the son of the Yandaime, Minato Namikaze. I know secrets of the village. Secrets I can't tell you yet. Over time, I will be able to tell you. For now, know I am the son Fourth Hokage. I've learned through scrolls and lessons he has left me. I can teach you the basic knowledge of jutsu I have. Nothing complex, just several pointers."

Sasuke's eyes widened, his entire disposition changing for a split second, but quickly changed back to normal. "In other words, after we are done sparring you want us to work on jutsu together?"

Naruto gave him a thumbs up. "You got it, asshat."

"What's first?" Sasuke asked.

"Chakra control. Follow me." Naruto led him into the forest in order for others to not see any progress. In the thickness of the forest, they found a very small open area bordered by several tall trees. "Before we start, do you have any questions? You didn't really act surprised that I'm son of the Yandaime."

"Did I ask any?" Sasuke surprisingly spoke in a more playful sarcasm.

Naruto rolled his eyes, turned towards the tree and said, "Fair enough."

"How do you know you're his son?" Sasuke curiously asked.

Naruto clenched his fists, tired of lying but stuck with it. "He left me some information, as well as Old Man Hokage telling me."

Sasuke then asked with a depressed tone, "Since your dad was the Hokage, does his death weigh on you more than when you didn't know who your parents were?"

"Of course. He left me with me something. Before I knew who my mom and dad were, I had nothing but the desire to know them and have a family. Now I specifically want them. Not to mention he died for me and for this village… It brings a heavier expectation as well as a stronger desire to succeed within myself. My dad was a hero; I only hope I can be a hero like he was."

After a brief pause, Sasuke asked, "What did he leave you?" to continue the conversation.

Naruto turned back to Sasuke and with a strong, fervent voice he said, "His will." A few moments passed. "Ok, so what is the first thing you can show me?" Sasuke asked.

"Something as easy as walking up a tree," Naruto spoke playfully. "Well actually, it _is_ walking up a tree."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You're joking, right?"

Naruto focused chakra into his feet and began to walk up the tree while explaining the purpose, "If you put enough chakra into your feet you can climb a tree without your hands. Think of it as glue. The point of the exercise lies within the fact chakra is most difficult to put and control in your feet." Naruto finished climbing, sat down on a branch and continued "In other words, if you can learn to walk up the tree you will better know how to control your chakra for all techniques you will learn. It helps master the basics. Another more difficult version of the same task is to walk on water." Naruto jumped down and said, "Now you try."

They practiced until noon. After they were done, Naruto asked Sasuke what Jutsu he knew, upon which Sasuke promptly explained the couple jutsu he was capable of were fireball jutsu, weak henges, and basic shuriken skills. After Sasuke was finished explaining, Naruto said, "This is how we will train each other. We can spend a chunk of time every day sparring, and another chunk practicing our jutsu with each other. For now, I will show you the little I know. We can spend our other time developing our own jutsu."

Sasuke sat down, crossed his legs and said, "Sounds like a plan, Naruto… So what do you want to do now?"

Naruto put his hand on his stomach. "Well, I'm hungry and going to get lunch. Want to come with?" Sasuke nodded in silent agreement.

Naruto and Sasuke began to walk off towards the village's main plaza where there are higher amounts of restaurants. Naruto put his hands behind his head and was smiling excitedly, while Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and walked with a calm demeanor. While looking around as they stepped foot in the plaza, Naruto asked, "Hey what are you hungry for?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said uncaringly. "What is your favorite food?"

Naruto looked up the sky longingly. "Ramen." He said. "However, I've had it around almost every meal for the last week. For once, I'm not in a ramen mood."

"Well, my mom always said to eat plenty of protein after I trained too long. It is supposed to build muscles." Sasuke grinned. "We can go eat a bunch of meat."

Naruto's face lit up. "Want to have a contest to see who can eat more?"

"I think eating too much will prevent any of its benefits." Sasuke looked mildly confused. He pondered what Naruto just said in his head he thought, "Of course, he hasn't had parents! Who would discipline his eating habits?"

Unknown to Sasuke, a solid minute of silence had formed. "You're wondering why my eating habits are so poor, huh?" Naruto asked simple and straightforward. Sasuke sweated. Without saying anything, Sasuke's face relaxed, looked him dead in the eye, and his body language answered a "yes."

"It's fine. The answer is I know the right habits. I just don't care." Naruto stuck out his fist and gave a thumbs up and smile as he finished speaking. Sasuke face palmed from disappointment and immediately crashed to the ground.

"So we decided on meat. Let's go with an all you can eat barbecue place."

"Fine. We can see who will eat more."

"Stop being so negative. We're only seven." Naruto lit up a smile. "In order to become strong, we must also know what exactly we enjoy and wish to protect. If you never allow yourself to enjoy simple things, you will never become as strong as you want to be."

The comment got under Sasuke's skin. "It's not that easy, Naruto." He said.

"Sure it is! All that matters is if you're willing. You've forgotten how to enjoy things, but if you're willing others will show you how."

"You really are stubborn; you know that?"

"Of course. I'm as stubborn as you are moody." Sasuke's face tensed with a rebuttal on his mouth. Before it was released Naruto interjected, "But there's no need to argue about that now. I'm hungry. We can argue with our stomachs."

They entered the restaurant and were seated immediately next to a window. As they began ordering a group of girls appeared outside the window, all calling for Sasuke. "On a scale of 1 to Itachi, how much do you hate the group of girls who constantly follow you?"

"About as much as people hate ants. They get annoying when they get into your stuff, but I try to ignore them. They're also more frustrating when there are groups of them. It's like accidentally stepping on an ant hill." Naruto laughed at Sasuke's words but laughed even harder when the loud cheering suddenly went quiet.

An instant later Sakura and Ino both popped their heads through the window and smiled. "Hey, Sakura and Ino! How are you two?" Naruto jollily asked.

They looked at each other and looked back at Naruto. Ino responded and said, "We're good. How are you?" Their eyes were filled with an uneasy excitement. Their body language showed excitement and kindness, but Naruto could read them. Even as kids, Naruto knew what they actually wanted: to be in here with Sasuke.

"Why don't you guys come eat with us?" Naruto asked to cease the uneasy tension they gave off.

In unison, they replied, "We'd love too!"

"The only condition is you need to get Hinata too." They were gone. A technique faster the than Hiraishin: fangirl no jutsu.

Sasuke, irritated by this, asked, "Why did you have to invite them to join us?"

"The more the merrier." Naruto laughed. "Besides, they're friends of mine too."

"But why Sakura? Didn't she reject you yesterday?" Sasuke asked with anger and confusion.

"Yeah, but we had a good talk yesterday over some choice words you gave her." Naruto gave a feigned smile with mischief in his eyes.

"I am not apologizing to her for that." Sasuke retorted.

"I don't want you too." Naruto feigned sincerity although finished with the genuine reply of, "You were honest, and Sakura will become stronger for it."

"Well, I wasn't honest. Truth is, I don't like Sakura at all. I hate her guts. I can tell she is always holding back her thoughts and feelings. But, she is the prettiest girl I know. She is also very smart. If someone made me pick a girl to like, I would honestly pick her."

"You're such an idiot!" Naruto yelled. "She might not ever like you again for those hurtful things you said!"

"She hurt you. You can probably already tell, but I don't forgive easy." Sasuke snorted out sarcastically. "I know you want me to, but it isn't that easy for me. Although, if it happened after we started sparring, like right now, I don't know if I would still."

Naruto let out a sigh. "Have you forgiven her yet?"

Genuinely surprisingly himself he replied, "I don't know."

"Then, of course, you haven't, idiot." Naruto was stupefied by Sasuke's uncertainty. "Forgive her Sasuke. She didn't hurt me that badly. Besides, yesterday was the past and gone. For something so small, there is no reason to keep holding on. Not to mention she apologized and several other good things came out of her rejecting me."

"Alright, alright. I will forgive her."

"And?"

"And what? I'm not telling her I'm sorry for what I said. I meant it."

"Fine. For now, let's enjoy the meal."

Shortly after the three girls arrived at the booth, Naruto got up and everyone greeted each other. Naruto offered the three girls their choice of seat, while Sasuke stayed still and acknowledged their presence. Sakura and Ino both looked at each other and then grabbed Naruto and pulled him to into the seat with him in the middle. Hinata sat down next to Sasuke. They all talked and had a good time. Sakura and Ino shared gossip. Sasuke and Naruto argued and made fun of each other. Hinata would take part in both of their conversations occasionally but found it hard to address Naruto at all. Sasuke eventually noticed Hinata's shyness and tried to bring her into the conversation, but each time she could only blush and stutter. This would later cause great confusion. More time would pass before Sakura and Ino's focus of gossip eventually turned to each other. "What?! What do you mean Naruto carried you to your home last night?" Ino shouted flustered.

"Why is that a big deal?" Sakura asked, and leaned over Naruto and then whispered to Ino, "Didn't Sasuke carry you to your home two days ago?" with a glint of mischief in her voice.

Ino spoke bluntly, "Nope, it was definitely Naruto. Naruto carried me like I was his princess!" She finished with a cocky look in her eye directed at Sakura. Hinata blushed out of jealousy. Suddenly, Naruto and Sasuke noticed the conversation. "Why are you arguing about this?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, don't argue with a guy you don't even like," Naruto stated annoyed. Sasuke face palmed for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura asked. "Who do you think is prettier: me or Ino?" Everyone stared at him, waiting for his answer. He began to sweat, looking frantically for a reason to not answer that question. Soon, he met eye contact with Hinata. He looked into her pale lavender eyes and could only mutter one thing with his breath taken away. "Neither."

"What?!" they yelled in unison. "Well, then who is the prettiest?!" Naruto kept looking at Hinata, and in a moment she knew his answer, or would at least like to believe she knew his answer. Naruto didn't actively think through this through. He just answered on impulse. Normally it is no contest: Sakura wins every time. However, in the moment he thought Hinata was the prettiest. Maybe it was because she was actually prettier and he never got to see her often. Maybe it was due to the two showing their bad sides. Whatever the case, Naruto now fell into the hot water. He couldn't be blunt and say Hinata right now; the greatest reason being they would both hate Hinata for it. Quickly Naruto came up with a solution. He yelled, "transform!" and changed into female Naruto.

"I'm clearly the cutest," Naruto said in a shy, charming tone. Everyone looked at Naruto stunned, except for Hinata. Sasuke didn't know what to say because she was oddly cute. Sakura and Ino both didn't know what say, only having their jaws dropped. Hinata began to laugh incredibly hard. After Naruto's situation, everything went back to normal and soon found themselves finished and saying goodbyes. Naruto managed to eat the most meat, although by only a couple bites. Soon they said their goodbyes. The three girls walked away together, while Sasuke and Naruto walked into the opposite direction. Then Naruto said, "You should go talk to Sakura and tell her you are sorry."

Slightly ticked off Sasuke said, "I was wondering when you were going to saying that again. I will do it, just not now."

"Do it now," Naruto demanded. "Tell her how you feel. You were sorry. You did mean what you said, but you didn't actually want to hurt her. You're a cool guy. It will make her happy."

Sasuke spoke in a voice of surrender. "Fine." He said. "I will do it, but you owe me one, Naruto."

"That's fine. I will pay you back tomorrow as I need to go practice alone for a while."

Sasuke headed off. Everyone's mind was on something else- no one realized the bill went unpaid. Although, no one would care about what will happen in a couple weeks.

Sasuke bolted after the girls and quickly caught up to them. "Sakura!" he yelled.

"What is it Sasuke?"

"I wanted to say..." Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "He is going to say he is sorry! I knew Sasuke cared!" she thought. "I forgive you." He finished. "WHAAATT?!" she screamed internally. Sakura made a face of despair and confusion as her shoulders slumped down.

"Sakura, what I'm trying to say is you hurt Naruto. By hurting my friend, you hurt me as well. I forgive you for that. Naruto asked me to forgive you. He asked me to express my sense of feelings. I forgive you. But I also want to say sorry. I intended to hurt you. I really did. I don't want you to hurt about what I said, but I did mean it. I think you need a goal. We are still kids, but Naruto and I have goals. We know what we want. We will become stronger for it. I think it would be good if you thought about it too. You're smart. I know you can figure it out." Sakura blushed when Sasuke finished that sentence. "He… complimented me?"

Sasuke continued, "Also, I lied about not being your friend or anything else. We aren't really friends so I can't say I know you. I do think you are pretty though. I don't want to think about girls right now, but it is mean for me to declare what will happen in the future when I don't know what will happen." Sasuke breathed. He said everything in one large breath. Sakura couldn't move. Sasuke's 180 turns left her in greater shock than yesterday. From there, the situation would turn back to normal. Although Sakura was happy, she had to thank Naruto for what he did. Near the end of the day before she fell asleep she thought on the day's events. "He is selfless and brave. He puts my feelings first, before his own. Although Sasuke is cool, Naruto is too. He is brave and daring." She blushed. She began to think about the brief minutes Naruto carried her and smiled as she went to sleep- dreaming about Naruto and Sasuke fighting for who got the right to marry her.

Earlier that day Naruto went off to the Hokage's office and quickly picked up an old sword and then headed out to the forest with his father's scrolls on his back. "Multi shadow clone jutsu!" Two dozen clones were made, each with a katana and a scroll on their back. Naruto split them in half: half were dedicated to learning the scroll and half were to input wind chakra into the sword. The real Naruto exercised and pushed his body to make it ready for sage jutsu. Naruto would work on them every day becoming stronger.

For the Hiraishin at first, Naruto had to study the scrolls his father left, which also contained some ideas from the second Hokage. After three afternoons of studying them nonstop, Naruto began to experiment. He said to himself, "Space-time jutsu is a jutsu where inputting chakra onto a specific spot warps reality on a minor scale and allows for instant teleportation. An example I can already do is Toad summoning jutsu. The input of chakra onto a single spot with a seal regarding the space and time of somewhere else caused a crack that allowed them to split through. What makes the Hiraishin, Kumai, and Kaguya's techniques interesting is they are different dimensions altogether in space-time. They don't just teleport. They cracked a hole in space-time that transported them somewhere else and reappeared at the seal- or in kunai's or Kaguya's case where the user willed."

"I don't even know what the hell I just said." He thought as he scratched his head wildly. He continued, "I can throw up all the facts and to an extent apply them, but I have no idea what I said. How do I put chakra into a seal to _warp_ reality?" Naruto had gone through the scroll hundreds of times by this point. However, on the verge of giving up Naruto found a piece of paper in the scroll's seems. After painstakingly getting it out without tearing the scroll. After unfolding it the piece of paper Naruto noticed on the top was big bold letters: "FOR THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND MINATO." Naruto began to read. "Have you ever been so mad you wanted to punch a hole into a different dimension? The Hiraishin is that. Imagine punching a hole into another dimension. After you first create the hole you make a seal with a word based on the hole you created. By creating the bond between seal and hole, you can punch a new hole into the dimension wherever the seal is. Now, if you need to know how to punch a hole into a dimension you must pick a word that stirs great feelings inside you. Imagine the word is something physical- like a bowl of ramen. The word is as touchable as the world around you, it is just on a different planet. Focus on your feelings and imagine the word come to life as you pour chakra into it. Now punch really hard! That's it! All you have left is practice. -Kushina Uzumaki." A lightbulb lit on top of Naruto's head.

"Ok, first I need to pick a word that causes great emotion where I can imagine it. I can't use words like 'hope.'" It occurred to Naruto, "I can use my mom's example, ramen!" Naruto sat down and began to meditate with his fists together. "Alright, now I need imagine the ramen is on another planet. I cannot eat the ramen. I cannot touch the ramen. I cannot smell the ramen. Pour my chakra into the ramen." Oddly enough, Naruto began to notice chakra was leaving him. After a half an hour of more chakra pouring out, Naruto began to smell it. After a while longer, Naruto began to feel the noodle's warmth on his hands. Soon, a few minutes later Naruto's stomach growled as he tasted the ramen in his mouth. "Now!" Naruto got up and punched the air as hard as he could, trying to grab the ramen. As he finished his motion his arm up to his elbow disappeared. Somewhere in the world Jiraiya was peeping and received a punch to the face. "I got it! Sort of", Naruto thought.

Each day from then on Naruto began practicing entering the ramen one body part at a time. First, he mastered his arms, then his legs, and then he proceeded to head-butt and chest bump his way into the ramen world. Before the first time he fully entered into the other world he created a seal similar to the summoning jutsu with the words "Ramen of Hope" surrounding the circle to mark his reappearance. Naruto realized his need when he thought, "Although mom's directions helped out, the one thing I understood in Dad's scroll is I cannot enter another dimension without a way back, or I will come back somewhere random." After making his ramen of hope technique seal Naruto focused on the other world- which became second nature after three weeks. He put the summoning formula on the ground in his training area and ran into the forest. After running a couple hundred feet Naruto concentrated and pushed himself into the other dimension. Faster than a millisecond later he was pushed back to the spot he marked earlier.

"Success!" Naruto yelled.

After another week of practice, Naruto learned to choose his markings by focusing on which one, as well as taught himself basic combat use. The greatest spectacle resulting from his training is the lack of a need for a kunai. However, Naruto quickly learned in practice for the sake of battle convenience concerning both unmarked areas and greater distances a marked kunai could change the tide in battle.

Back on the first day of Naruto's new training he had around 12 clones practicing inputting wind chakra into the sword. It took a week until Naruto used to put wind chakra into the sword at an amount he was able to cut a tree down in one swing. Now was a harder part: Naruto had decided to make a wind sword. During his training, he thought, "My idea is simple although I'm not sure the first step of inputting wind chakra into the weapon itself. I desire to surround the sword in a large quantity of wind chakra, thereby creating a small wind tunnel around my sword but maintaining the shape of the sword. Essentially, I want to put rasenshuriken into a sword although on a smaller, more controllable scale." By controlling the wind tunnel around the sword with his chakra Naruto can extend the sword's swing to any distance. Depending on the swords strike the motion and movement of the wind would follow suit, creating different attacks. Straight forward jobs will create a small but deep puncture. A sideways slash will create broad but thin slices of wind- as if there was a katana being swung by giant's arm.

The problem was the wind tunnel, however, when you have a dozen people working on the idea for several hours a day it doesn't take too long to figure it out. Two weeks later Naruto could create the wind tunnel and maintain it around the sword. After another week of training Naruto was able to perform his slashes with no problems, although like the Hiraishin, this too took a large toll on Naruto's reserves. The technique itself was easy to manifest, however maintaining it longer than brief durations took an immense toll on Naruto's chakra reserves. In Naruto's mind, the only thing preventing him from killing himself during training was his stubborn will and refusal to give up. Every moment and action he did change the world's future.

Naruto spent each of the next two days pushing his body to his limit. Before during training, he would be required to take breaks consistently. On the first day after learning his two new techniques, he only spent time focusing on the Hiraishin without any clones. As he was preparing himself on the way on the way to his spot he could only think, "I need to push myself to my limit to see how many times I can use the Hiraishin before total exhaustion. I need to know. I need to try to break my limits." After what seemed only a few minutes, Naruto was done for the day. He only had twenty in him. Following on the next day, he spent time focusing only maintaining his wind sword. Purely maintaining the constant wind, Naruto was able to last thirty-five minutes. After his max day was over Naruto fell to the ground and relaxed. "Only thirty-five minutes?" he groaned to himself, half genuinely expecting better results while forgetting he is only a child. Although not close to mastering the two Jutsu, Naruto was well pleased. "I've finished my training. I've come close to mastering two new jutsu. Although I still have a lot of work to do", he thought. For the next two days, Naruto focused his free time on exercising again, as well as summoning as many shadow clones as possible to fight each other with swords- giving him several weeks' worth of practice in a matter of two days.

For the next two weeks, Naruto stopped training and spent as much time as he could with his friends. During his training regimen, he only spent time with them before and after his morning and afternoon training was over. Nearing the end of his training he would not spot thinking, "I need to spend more time with them", while mentally slapping himself. Despite the little time he spent with them for a month, through most peculiar circumstances Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata developed their circle of friend's overtime. He had difficulty getting along with Hinata but managed a few times. He would spend their time together hearing everything on her heart and doing his best to encourage her. While alone with Ino, they joked together about who should be coupled and often people watched strangers. Along with Sakura, they talked about a wide variety of subjects from simple conversations to complex beliefs about who they should become when they're adults.

Despite all of Naruto's cheerful demeanor while trying to get her to not think about Sasuke's words even after he forgave her; she could not forget what he said. Sakura's mind was as if she walked into the room and turning on a light switch, only for her to see how unorganized and dirty the room is to the point you cannot move or reach your bed to rest. She could not simply turn the light off even if she wanted. Naruto eventually convinced her she should focus on improving her physical strength. "You're a genius, but in terms of physical prowess you were as weak as me last year", he told her. It struck a chord in her. Naruto began to lightly spar with Sakura the few times they were alone; using more of his seemingly infinite energy throughout the summer. In her not too far off future, Naruto's words would resound true as she began trying to improve her figure and physique with more than dieting, but rather high amounts of exercise.

Nearing the end of two weeks of bliss, Naruto had finished walking Hinata home with Ko. While strutting home, the stars came out to shine brightly. When he arrived he stopped at his balcony and looked up in wonder as shooting star passed over his head. He sat down on the cold, rough cement. "I should make a wish, but I don't really have anything to wish for", he thought as he scratched his head. "These last two weeks have been the most fun I've had in what's felt like months." Naruto had gotten up and gone to bed with the most peace he had in months, taking in every fabric of cotton onto his skin as he could. Each soft touch was a gentle massage as he fell asleep. Even with all the progress, Naruto had gotten with his new friends, most of the time they spent was together and played like normal kids. In a lot of ways, Naruto began to have a somewhat normal childhood for the first time. With only a couple weeks before the academy started up again Naruto's future began to change.

As Naruto got up the next morning and stretched he realized, "I haven't spoken to Kurama in a while." Naruto sat on his wooden floor, meditating with hands- put into fists- together near a window giving his head a warming sunlight. Within a moment's notice, Naruto entered his mindscape, greeted by the fox's cruel smile. "Hello, Naruto," Kurama spoke in a calm, but the calculated tone of hatred. "You wish to talk to me?" he asked.

Naruto was taken back. There was the rage in Kurama's eyes, but something more calm and meticulous. "Y-yes." He said in a slightly frightful tone. "I was wondering how you've been?"

"Such a stupid question", Kurama snorted. "I'm trapped in you; how do you think I am?"

Naruto clenched his fists from the smartass comment. "I guess I was hoping you would be happy to have me visit you."

Kurama closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "How is everything?" the fox asked.

Naruto didn't show any surprise on his face. He smiled naturally, like talking to an old friend. "I've been good. I've been training what seems like non-stop the last two weeks."

"I noticed. You've been training hard. You've been befriending the Uchiha. In a way, you two are already far closer than you ever were when Sasuke left Konoha. You've also taught yourself the Hiraishin and created a wind jutsu based off kenjutsu. They'll be useful for the war to come."

Naruto took a moment to process what he was going to say. Uneasy, knowing the fox may snap at any point, he decided to be straightforward. "You've been looking through my memories, haven't you?"

Expecting rage, Naruto's eyes widened when he was given a simple "Yes". A worried Naruto asked, "You look like you have several things to say. What is it Kurama? Are you ok?"

Kurama laughed with despair and anger. "That's a question no one has asked me in a long time."

Naruto looked firmly into Kurama's eyes and said, "Even if you don't think of me as anything but a prison, I see you as my friend and comrade."

"I know." Kurama looked away and then back at Naruto. "You've experienced a war with me at your side. You promised me you would conquer my hatred. You would die for the tailed beasts. You would risk your life for my freedom. Hagoromo said you were the incarnation of Asura. In a way, he was wrong. You remind me more of the old man… You remind me of my dad. You see the anger in me and feel pain over how humanity has hurt me. You even feel remorse for how your parents treated me... I keep looking through your memories. The more I view them the more I relive them as if I was there. I experience Obito attacking us as I defend you and your determination to end the cycle of hatred while protecting everyone. I don't know if it's because of the bond between us forcing your memories with me to become mine, the fact I've been split in half and there was a delay in the memories entering me as we are still one being and share them, or if you reminded me so much of my dad, but I know I don't want to be angry anymore. I relive the moment the tailed beasts agree that you are the child of prophecy. You are our savior. Our freedom. I want to help you win the war to come."

"I KNEW YOU WOULD COME AROUND KURAMA!" Naruto shouted and cried. He jumped towards the steel cage. About to release the seal, Kurama yelled, "YOU IDIOT. DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU ARE TOLD."

"YOU LIED ABOUT ALL OF THAT?!" Naruto raised his fist while screaming.

Kurama sighed a heavy breath. "No, I meant every word, but you need to be more cautious."

Relaxing his guard Naruto spoke frank with the fox. "I trust you Kurama", he said.

With an uneasy rebuttal, Kurama said, "Before breaking the seal is an option we need the key."

Naruto scratched chin in thought. "Actually, I've been thinking about that. They key is useful to the untrained or unwilling. But if we both agree and consent, the seal should break with ease. Although it will have to be broken before unlocked."

Kurama smirked. "Clever. So you want to force large amounts of chakra from me into you in order to weaken the seal?"

Naruto smirked back. "Haven't you been doing that for the past two weeks? Let's be real Kurama, there is no way I could do all that training with my current amount of chakra. It would be difficult even if I was ready for sage jutsu. You've been feeding me chakra, but preventing yourself from taking over. You've been helping me train this entire time."

Kurama laughed and said, "I thought you were supposed to be a dumb brat? What happened to him?"

Naruto chuckled. "I guess even the dumbest of people can become smart if they have enough time."

Kurama asked Naruto, "Are you ready to merge?" Naruto levitated up off the water covered floor and reached the seal. With relative ease, Naruto removed it. Kurama bursts through the door and jumped at Naruto. Although many would see it as the fox leaping at his prey, Naruto jumped towards the fox to landing on his head. Naruto woke up from his mindscape. He looked down to his hands and legs and saw the Nine-tailed fox chakra mode surrounding his body, glowing a bright yellow and orange that gave off her a subtle warmth. Naruto opened his apartment door and ran outside. He made it to his previous day's training spot in less than a minute, where before it took nearly twenty.

"I've missed this Kurama!" Naruto yelled with glee.

"I bet you've missed being more powerful than anyone else."

"Not that! Fighting beside you."

The fox gave Naruto an awkward pause. "Naruto, listen. I've been thinking. I don't want to give you this power just yet. Not fully. I want you to reattach the seal."

Within a moment's notice, they reentered the mindscape and Naruto reset the seal. "Why, Kurama?"

"You said it yourself. The future is ever changing. I've made my own predictions for what's going to happen soon. It is better if I remain locked in here for now. Besides that, if something were to happen to you or you were to change, I don't want to give you full access to my power."

Naruto frowned. "You want me to prove myself to you, huh?"

"I guess that is one way of looking at it." Kurama looked down towards Naruto and yelled, "Prove to me how strong you are Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto's courage roared through the mindscape, creating a brighter light and a cleaner room. The air became the warmth of a friendly hero's smile, while the floor was smoothed into a wood comfortable to sit down on. "Alright, Kurama! I will prove myself!"

"Now, I know you want to change things. However, you've been somewhat cautious so far. I think you need to make a few moves that are more extreme."

Raising an eyebrow Naruto asked, "Like what?"

"There are two shinobi your age that can prove valuable: Sai and Karin from team Taka."

Naruto smiled at his missing friend. "I forgot about Sai! And the other Sasuke fan girl he tried to kill?"

"Yes, Naruto. If you can get a way to force Danzo to release Sai it will allow him to grow up with you. You will also need a way to find Karin and save her from Orochimaru's southern hideout. Although, this a moot point if you can't convince the Sandaime to make it a fourth rookie genin squad."

Naruto gave the fox his signature smile and said, "Don't worry about that part. I can convince the old man to do it. Believe it!"

Kurama laughed mischievously. "Now, here is your greater task," he said. "You need to find a third person who will fit that category."

"Shit."

"You see the problem now?"

"Yep."

Kurama shook his head with a smile, delighting and loathing Naruto's uncertainty. Kurama spoke up, "Good luck, Naruto. I believe in you. You will know when the right person comes along. For now, I'm going to spend my time in here thinking. If you ever want to talk or get bored…"

"I will visit you Kurama, don't worry. After all, you are also one of my best friends."

Naruto woke from his mindscape. "Although the Kyuubi's chakra mode ended, there is still residual chakra I can use to race towards Old Man's office." Although nowhere near as fast as before, Naruto's briefly increased speed made it rather quick to Hokage's office. On the way, Naruto noticed the training field Sasuke and him would spar at. Naruto threw a kunai with a seal on it and hit a tree on the outside border of the field. Naruto continued speedily along, shortly arriving at the Hokage's office. "I should my seal here as well." Arriving at the door, Naruto tapped and put his typically invisible seal onto. Hiruzen said, "Come in." Naruto entered the door and let the Hokage know of his new found discoveries.

The Hokage turned towards the window. "I have no power over Danzo when it comes to root. For all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist. I can't do much about this young man named, Sai. Nor am I going to blindly attack a hideout of Orochimaru."

The atmosphere and tone within Hiruzen were tense. Someone was listening to their conversation. Instead of making a scene, Naruto trusted Hiruzen and said, "But theoretically, if they joined my class and there were twelve fitting to be shinobi, would you allow it?"

Hiruzen took a deep breath and answered kindly, "On theory, yes, Naruto." The presence departed. Hiruzen walked over to the boy and patted him on the head. "If they exemplify great skills, it would be foolish to not make there be a rookie twelve. Nine may be the tradition, but it is not absolute. They will all be given a chance by instructors, but they may still fail. It may be a different genin group who passes if I allow twelve that year."

Naruto looked up and smiled. "Don't you worry about that, Old Man. They won't let you down."

"Anything else, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked with an eased tone.

Naruto yelled, "Nope! Well, actually there is this! By Old Man!" In a flash, Naruto was gone. Hiruzen was more than shocked. "I believed he could master the Hiraishin, but in a couple of weeks? That's insane! I only hope he doesn't use it to pull pranks."

Naruto appeared next to the training area almost instantly. Sasuke was there already. "What's up, Sasuke?"

"Hey, Naruto." He replied in an uncertain voice. "Listen, I've been thinking."

Naruto laughed and said, "That can't be good."

Sasuke stared Naruto in the eyes and said, "I'm serious. I finished reading _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_. I understand now. You were named after the main character, weren't you?"

Naruto felt a slight breeze on his face as he looked at Sasuke and answered, "Yes."

"You feel the burden of the world on your shoulders. In a matter of days, you've aged years. I see now. The cycle of hatred the revolves around everyone. Itachi killed my family, and now, in turn, I want to kill Itachi. If I succeed any allies he will have gained may wish to kill me, or since he is my brother I won't be able to bear the pain myself and act differently towards everyone else. If I fail and he kills me, you and any other friends I will have gained will want revenge. The cycle will keep continuing as long as there are people precious to others. Solutions I could think of would be to end all friendship or to end selfishness of humanity, but those are far fetched."

"Yes, but neither of those two are possible solutions like you said. Mankind will always be relational and have people they value. Mankind will always be selfish since its natural each person wants to protect the needs and wants of those they care about and themselves. Rather than have mankind deny its nature, I want to focus on part of it- achieve mutual understanding through relationships. Forgiveness is easier this way. It is easier for mankind to try to understand others than to permanently stop friendships or selfishness. Don't you think?"

Sasuke looked away. "Yes, but that is still a ridiculously hard. How can we achieve that?"

Naruto looked down to do the earth below his feet. "I don't know." He said. "We would have to start within our village first and over time spread the ideology. Other than that, the easiest solution is if the understanding was almost forced between everyone. What if there rose an enemy strong enough to fight the ninja world?"

Sasuke thought for a minute as he walked over to the nearby stream. "I guess most of the shinobi would have to fight side by side. What about their issues with each other?"

Naruto walked over beside him and decided to sit down on the soft grass. "They would be forced to settle them or they would fail," he said.

"I get it," Sasuke said as he sat beside his friend. "Why would you do so much for everyone though?"

With a smile on his face Naruto's voice gained strength and said, "It starts from the Will of Fire."

"The Will of Fire?" the Uchiha asked.

With fervor in his voice, Naruto said, "The desire for the shinobi of Konoha to protect its people."

Sasuke looked at him puzzled. "You want to protect the people you care about and that eventually becomes the whole world?" he asked.

"You got it. I want to protect everyone. You, Sakura, Ino, Hinata and everyone else."

With something greater on his mind, Sasuke asked his true question: "What makes a man betray those people?"

Naruto put his arms behind his head and reclined. "You're wondering about Itachi?" he asked. "Well, there may have been people he believed more important to them. In their minds, the sacrifice is worth it. They could be evil; they may want to watch the world burn. They could have been betrayed first- or the betrayal could have been a gradual build up until something extreme happens."

"What do you think Itachi's thought process was?" Sasuke asked monotone.

"I don't know." Naruto yawned and stretched. "I think there was something he wanted to protect; something he cared about more than the Uchiha clan that forced his hand."

"When I talked to him, he said it was to test himself. He wanted to become stronger. All he cared about was himself."

Naruto responded, "Think back Sasuke. Didn't Sasuke have relationships? A best friend? Maybe a girlfriend? That night, did he seem remorseful at all?"

Sasuke sat down and meditated. He thought back to his brother's private life and the night a few months ago. "Well, there was a girl he liked. I couldn't imagine he killed her in cold blood so… easy. He also had a best friend. A member of our clan who was even more skilled than him who had gone missing. Our clan approached Itachi about his disappearance. That was the beginning of Itachi clashing with our clan before the massacre."

Naruto sat up and spoke with a gentle strength, "Anything else you remember? You don't have to push yourself. I know it was hell. But think back carefully."

Sasuke then went on, "Itachi talked about the Sharingan, our clan's bloodline, and… he cried before he left? He told me to fight him when I had a Sharingan like his. When he left, if I think about…" Thousands of images passed through Sasuke's head. "He was crying right before he left." Naruto put his hand on Sasuke. "It's alright, Sasuke. You don't need to think about it anymore." After a minute went by, Naruto said, "Ok, let's think about everything so far. Itachi says he wanted to test his limits. However, before this he was a loyal ninja to the village. He had a dispute with other Uchiha over Shisui- who had gone missing. He seemed to have expressed remorse for killing everyone." A thought in Naruto's brain clicked, "Lastly, Itachi didn't kill a powerful Sharingan user he was aware of. There is non-Uchiha with a Sharingan who is Anbu member like Itachi. They've worked together. If Itachi was so pressed for testing himself against other Sharingan users, why not him as well?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto with great suspicion. Now aware he knows more than he is letting on, he asked: "How do you know that?"

Naruto sweated internally. He didn't think of how he could explain he knew Kakashi. After a few moments, Naruto trusted his gut and spoke another half truth, "Remember my dad? He was a student of my dad's. He received the Sharingan in the last war from an Uchiha comrade who passed away in battle. It was a gift of their friendship. What we know is Itachi must be lying. He can't say he wanted to push himself when he ignored one of the strongest fighters. He had a quarrel with several Uchiha. His best friend was missing. He wants you to attain a powerful sharingan."

"What does this mean? What are you trying to get at, Naruto?" Sasuke spoke slightly frustrated with his suspicion still raised.

Naruto reclined once more on the grass and said, "I don't know. It does mean there is something deeper behind Itachi's motives. It's not so clear cut like everyone thinks. You're the only one who would be capable of figuring it out."

"I'm the only one," Sasuke mumbled to himself.

"I have an idea," Naruto said as he got up. "Why don't we go to the Uchiha compound? We can skip training for the day. Let's figure out the truth behind what happened. Not everything adds up. Maybe looking around can give light to the truth."

It didn't take long to arrive at the Uchiha clan's old compound. Both of them ran as if their life depended on it. When they arrived they began looking for anything that would give them clues. Eventually, Sasuke began searching his parent's room. Under a floor matt lay a book detailing the history of the Uchiha. "Hey Naruto, come look at this!" Sasuke called Naruto from the next room over.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.  
Sasuke handed the book over for Naruto to examine. He said, "It's a history of events for the Uchiha clan. It is written by the clan heads as if it's a journal that has been passed down by their leaders. If anything will have answers, this will." They began reading: it was filled with events of the Uchiha and all the good they have done. After spending twenty minutes going through it Naruto realized the book was that of surface events.

"Hey, Sasuke…" Naruto said wearingly.

"You realized it too?" Sasuke thought to himself as he motioned for Naruto to continue.

"Don't you think this book is too convenient? It is a book passed down by clan heads, but there are only positive events. There are no dark or nitty gritty things. As great as your clan may be, every clan has mess ups. This book has none of them. It's more like it was a book anyone normal clan member could read. Furthermore, to have a history book hidden like that makes it look planted."

Sasuke sighed another deep breath. "Well, we don't have much else, Naruto."

Naruto inhaled a deep breath and put his hand on his chin, thinking hard. "What are the biggest events in the book, and the bigger events in Itachi's lifetime?"

Sasuke flipped through the pages one by one. "Well, the village was originally co-founded by the Uchiha and the Senju. Their clan leader Madara, although a good man, feared for how the Uchiha would be treated. He eventually was exiled from the clan as he wanted to wage war against the Senju for village power struggle. After the beginning of the Second Hokage's reign, he appointed the Uchiha clan as the village's police force. Of course, the Uchiha were proud of the honor to maintain peace both inside and outside the village. There aren't any other huge events after those two. During Itachi's life, there are several instances of the Uchiha clan rallying together to keep peace amidst the village. Despite dedicating their lives to the village, there were those who didn't trust them after the Nine-tailed fox incident as there were rumors of an Uchiha being behind it. They encountered greater resistance, but continued to be honorable policemen."

"Anything else important?"  
"Just a bunch of clan politics with other Konoha clans."

"Ok, let's think if there is any connection in these events." After a few minutes went by, Sasuke said, "Hey, Naruto. There are dark sides to everything. You said this is a surface history. What if there are dark aspects to these "honorable" actions by my clan?"

"That may fill in the holes… Did you ever sense any resentment of others towards your clan for being the police?"

Confused by his own thoughts Sasuke made a face and said, "Yes, but I always assumed it was because we were revered as the strongest of the village."

"What happens when the entire police force is one specific group of people? They will be presented. There is no way the entire village felt thankful for the _honorable_ actions of the Uchiha. This can be seen in the Nine-tails fox incident. The villagers held greater resistance to your clan. What if it was more of an extreme? What if it wasn't resistance, but rather oppression and animosity? What if the villagers also blamed Uchiha for the Nine-tails incident? They would try to hurt the Uchiha clan- punish them in some way."

For a second a lightbulb appeared over Sasuke's head and then returned dim as if he lost his thoughts. "How does this relate to Itachi though?" he asked.

Naruto squinted his eyes as if staring at something to increase concentration. "What if they developed a hatred for the village?" he asked back.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked inquisitively.

"What if their poor treatment over the years led them to hate the villagers? What if they planned a coup d'état?"

Sasuke's voice grew infuriated. "They would never do that!" he yelled. "That doesn't make sense! Stop playing twenty questions with me and say what you think Naruto."

In a calm voice, Naruto said, "Think about it. Think of the cycle of hatred. What if they planned on… retaliation? What if they wanted the power to stop being oppressed?"

"Then the villagers should die", Sasuke retorted coldly.

"Sasuke! Really? Don't get angry right now. Remember, this is all speculation. Besides, the village was mean, yes. But, Uchiha was willing to murder. Do I being a jerk to you give you the right to kill me? Can you honestly tell me that's fair?"

"AHHHHHGGG!" Sasuke yelled. "No, it's not. If it were the case of another clan I would say it is completely not right… It still hurts though."

"Don't worry yet. Remember, we can't prove our ideas. Now, if they did plan to take over the village and kill anyone who stood in their way, what if Itachi was a preemptive strike because he knew about it?"

Sasuke's voice grew in fear. "You mean Itachi killed everyone to… protect the village?"

Naruto looked down on the old wood they were sitting on. "In theory, yes," Naruto said in a slight fearful mumble trying to pull together facts he didn't know himself. "If Shisui sympathized with Itachi, it is possible another Uchiha killed him and they tried to ask him if he had suspicions against them. If Itachi was loyal to the village and carried the will of fire strong in his heart, he would have had a hard time betraying the village he wished to protect so badly. Having his best friend betrayed would definitely make it easier to betray his family. It also explains why he didn't kill the non-Uchiha sharingan user- he was loyal to the village and had no need to die. He did it to save the village."

A minute went back as Sasuke absorbed Naruto's thoughts. His voice grew cold when he said, "Why didn't he kill me then?"

"Sasuke…" Naruto sighed.

"Answer me that then! If Itachi isn't a villain who deserves to die if your theory is true, then why did he not kill me?!" Sasuke rose to his feet for the first time since they began reading.

Naruto got up and raised his voice, knowing the one true fact of the entire scenario. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. But there is something more important to Itachi then the safety of the village- you! He values you more than any order or needs to protect others. You are what he holds most precious to his life."

Sasuke became overwhelmed by the proposition. He began to cry uncontrollably and fell to his knees, unable to mutter a single word, although his mind screamed, "Damn it! I hate this! This can't be true!" He relived his recent trauma only to come to terms not everything is as black and white as everyone believes. Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, I promise you I will help you find the truth. I will you get justice for whoever was behind your clan's demise."

Sasuke got up. "I can't," he said. "I don't know if I would want to."

"Why not?" Naruto asked confused as hell.

"The last few weeks you've been my best friend," Sasuke said as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "A kind of friend that I have never had before. You are the son of the Hokage. To hurt the village, even if my family is hated by them, would also be to hurt your family."

Without a second to pass by Naruto reminded Sasuke of an important truth by saying, "They're your family too." Sasuke opened his eyes and began to see passed the tears only to witness Naruto smile. "You smile in the face of all the pain right now. It isn't a lie. It isn't a mask. You don't have the answers as we are both still weak children, but you face all this darkness with a smile. How do you have such courage, Naruto?" Sasuke thought to himself. The tears dried up fast after. Sasuke quickly got up. "Alright, Naruto! I have a new order of business: before I can determine what I want to do I need to know the truth!"

Naruto, in his wildest dreams, couldn't account for this change. "Wait, wait, wait, wait." He mumbled out. "How are in the world are you planning on finding out the truth?"

"Well, let's say you are right, the village leaders won't say otherwise. There is only one person we can talk to about it", he said. Sasuke relaxed his muscles, surprised by the ease within his own words.

"So you want to go hunting after Itachi?"

Sasuke grinned at Naruto. "Without a doubt. I need to know what really went on that night. I need to know why it happened, what was really involved, and if needed who gave the order."

Naruto grinned wide and folded his arms. "I told you I know secrets of the village. I even know a couple secrets of your clan. I don't know the exact details, but I know it is a prayer that night than people say. I couldn't come out and blatantly say it. I needed you to figure it yourself."

Sasuke frowned. "I had my suspicions." He said as he scratched his head. "Thank you for telling me. Seriously, thank you. How do you know this though?"

Naruto's voice turned serious as if he was no longer a boy and said, "I can't tell you yet Sasuke. I will soon. Do you trust me?"

"I've trusted you so far. There is no point in stopping now."

"Alright! Then let's go meet Itachi and ask him yourself." Naruto began to head outside.

"Right now?!" Sasuke yelled in shock.

Naruto turned around and laughed. "Yes, of course", he said. "I told you I know secrets. I know things that could get me killed. Not only that, but Old Man Hokage asked me to meet with Itachi. I'm an unknown "informant". He asked to meet with me." They began to take off and started running towards the Hokage's office.

During their run, they whispered back and forth. With many questions on his mind, the foremost one came out. "Wait, Itachi is still taking orders from the Third Hokage?"

"Yes, don't worry about that right now. You'll understand everything soon. There is some gray, but Itachi is still helping Konoha. What matters is that we are going to see Itachi."

Naruto and Sasuke burst through the Hokage's door. Hiruzen dismissed Iruka, who he was talking to about two possible new students thereby adding another student into the academy who previously failed out. As soon as Iruka was gone Naruto stated, "I would like to set up that meeting with Itachi, Lord Third." Hiruzen was caught off guard that Naruto spoke so freely in front of Sasuke. "How much did Naruto say?" he wondered. "Don't worry, Old Man. Sasuke just wants to ask Itachi some questions."

Hiruzen looked at Sasuke and looked back at Naruto. "Does he now?" he asked.

Sasuke spoke up, "Yes, Lord Third. I don't know… about anything anymore. The only one who can answer my questions is Itachi."

"I see…" Hiruzen said. He moved towards the window and lit his pipe. After the first exhale he said, "Permission granted. You may join Naruto on his mission. You will have an escort of three Anbu. Is that satisfactory, or do you need more?

Sasuke looked at Naruto with concern. Understanding what Sasuke wanted Naruto said, "I request no escort. I will be more than strong enough to fight any bandits, and Itachi himself, if necessary. Besides, we cannot risk others knowing Itachi's cover or any of the truth. I already know it, and Sasuke a has right to know."

Hiruzen exhaled once more. "You really make things hard, Naruto." He said. "I try to give you as much leeway as possible, but there will be consequences for everything. The village elders and Danzo have deemed so, especially if Sasuke learns everything."

"Trust me, Sasuke won't betray the village. He is more like Itachi and Shisui than others would give him credit for." Sasuke winced when Naruto spoke of them so casually. "Besides, Sasuke isn't coming on this mission with me, right Old Man?" Naruto's tense stare turned the air cold.

Hiruzen sweated. "Right."

"I'm serious now. Promise me no one will ever know Sasuke came with me. If you ever cared about my parents and their wishes, you'll grant me this one request above everything else."

"I see… You have my word, Naruto." Hiruzen let a smile out towards him and Sasuke. "Just don't get hurt, alright? If anything happens to protect each other no matter what."

Naruto finally kneeled before the Sandaime out of respect. "We will. You have my word, Lord Third." Hiruzen smiled as Naruto uttered his next phrase, "I too carry the Will of Fire."

Hiruzen's smile quickly faded, although his heart was overjoyed. "Alright, Naruto, I will set up a meeting with Itachi in one week's time in a small town named Haiden around five days from here. Itachi is currently moving around those villages, not staying too long in a single one to avoid suspicion. There is a large casino in Haiden. It's an easy meeting place. Do you want to give Itachi any directions?"

Naruto nodded his head forward slightly, "I will be disguised as Minato Namikaze. I will be waiting in front of the Casino at noon in one week's time."

"Alright." Hiruzen reached in his drawer and took out a small pouch of money and tossed it to Naruto. "Take that money as well to pay for your expenses. There should be plenty. Now dismissed!"

Naruto and Sasuke left the Sandaime's office. As they were walking down the stairs Naruto said, "Hey, this is big. It's your first mission. Go get your school bag and fill it with any supplies you think you will need. I'll be doing the same. We can leave at 2:00 pm and meet at the village gates. I will also tell Ino, Sakura, and Hinata goodbye. It will probably be two weeks before they will see us again." With a single tracked mind Sasuke agreed.

Naruto went around town trying to find the three girls to no avail. Eventually, he reached the training grounds where Sasuke and Naruto fight at. All three girls were acting like they were waiting. "You have got to be kidding me. They've been spying on our training? Well, whatever. It's not a big deal as long as they only saw the sparring." Naruto arrived and greeted the girls. "Hey, guys!"

"Naruto, we are ladies. Call us such." Ino said slightly demanding.

Naruto jumbled together a half-hearted, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Naruto. I'll forgive you this time", Ino mischievously said.

"…Anyways," Naruto said. "I wanted to say goodbye to you three. Sasuke and I are leaving for about two weeks. We will be coming back sometime the day before the Academy starts."

"Wh- when are you leaving?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"I told Sasuke to be ready at 2:00 pm by the villages gates. We will leave then. I need to go get ready too. Goodbye Sakura, Ino, and Hinata!" Naruto began to run towards his apartment.

"Na-Naruto!" Hinata nearly screamed as her face blushed at getting his attention.

Naruto backtracked the short distance he had ran. "What is it Hinata?" he asked worriedly.

Hinata held in a breath and in a quick but calm fashion she said, "I have something I want to talk to you about. I'll also be waiting by the gates for you before you leave. I want to say goodbye there if I won't see you until school starts." Her face nearly turning purple by the end, she took in a deep breath and relaxed.

Sakura and Ino looked at each other and nodded. "We have something to tell you like Hinata!"

"Uhhh… Sounds good?" Naruto said unsure of their intentions. "I'm sure Sasuke will be happy to say goodbye too. Meet Sasuke and me there at 2:00. I'm sure he will happy to be able to say goodbye too."

The next couple hours went by fast, with Naruto arriving at the gate a few minutes early to see his friends waiting for him. "About time you showed up", Sasuke said sarcastically.

Naruto sneered at him and said, "Time to go. I'm guessing you already said goodbye to them?"

"Yeah," Sasuke grunted.

"I guess it's my turn to say goodbye." Naruto smiled quietly with a slight pain in his face, fearing what is to come.

Sakura stood forward, "Actually it's not just that. Ino, Hinata, and I promised to do something a couple weeks ago before school started again. We won't really have time since you won't be arriving until the day before. We agreed to do it now."

Naruto looked confused. "Ok…" he said. "What is it?" Hinata stepped forward. "I will go first." She looked at Naruto and stepped within a foot away from him. Looking into his eyes she said, "Na-Naruto. T-the truth is… I-I have no-never felts-so strong. Y-you believe in me. You aware a-always b-beside me. Wh-what I-I'm try-trying t-to s-say is…" Hinata looked down and blushed a deep red. She looked up into Naruto's eyes, closed hers and yelled, "I like you, Naruto!" Sasuke eyes widened and were stunned by the new development. "SO BOLD," Ino and Sakura thought. Amidst the seriousness of the situation in Naruto's eyes concerning Sasuke and Itachi, this was a trifling matter. He wasn't concerned with women in the moment. However, Hinata was important to him. He looked at her without saying anything, holding a blank expression. Hinata opened her eyes to see Naruto form a smile. He wrapped his arms around her and said, "I'm proud of you, Hinata." In that moment Hinata's world came tumbling down. She knew exactly what Naruto was going to say next "But I don't like you." "I like Sakura." "I like Ino." "You're my friend."

Naruto took a deep breath and said, "But I don't know what to feel! I do care about you. I care about you a lot. I just don't know what to feel right now. I will be able to give you an answer soon. When I get back. I promise. For now, know I'm proud of you. You put your heart on the line." Naruto squeezed her in his arms tighter for a few seconds and let go. He looked into Hinata's eyes and said, "I like that" in a flirtatious tone. Hinata's face turned into a tomato and walked about back to Sakura and Ino with penguin steps.

Ino then stepped forward. She smiled at Naruto and said, "I'm not quite sure how to tell you this. I like you, Naruto! I really like you. You are selfless and brave. You treated me like your princess. When we hang out, I don't think there is a guy cooler than you." Ino then ran and tackled Naruto with a huge. Naruto was extraordinarily surprised. "Ino, I can't say anything different than what I told, Hinata. I don't know how to respond to that right now." Naruto confused look turned to friendly one. "You are a princess though," he said. "I'm glad you know how I see you." Ino let go of Naruto with a couple tears and walked back towards Hinata. Sasuke eyes widened further which covered half his face, with his jaw dropped covering the other half.

Sakura stepped forward. "Hi, Naruto…" It occurred to Naruto the pattern here. Naruto's eyes widened and he stared at her in disbelief. "Hey, stop staring. You're making me nervous." Sakura began to blush. "Going third is hard enough as it is." Sakura let out a gentle smile. "Anyways, I like you too, Naruto. Truth is, the way you've treated me is unlike any friend ever has. You and Sasuke inspire me. I honestly don't know exactly what I feel towards you myself. Half of me feels like I'm lying to myself, but another half feels something every time I talk to you. I just don't know what. I know I do care about you, but I'm not sure how." Sakura's voice weakened in confidence. "I don't mind being the second or third option because of it either." Naruto's face turned from a hopeful shock into a disheartened stare- as if the other two girls didn't pour out their hearts moments before.

Noticing his confusion Sakura said, "I care about you, Naruto. Not because of how you treat me, but because I've decided you are one of the people I want to protect." Sakura took another step forward and hugged Naruto as she teared up. She whispered, "Naruto, you are not my entire world and far from it, but you helped me build it over the last few weeks. Thank you so much for that." After another moment Sakura quickly backtracked and walked back to her girlfriends. Sasuke could no longer stand and was now face first on the ground from the sheer ridiculousness of what happened. Naruto would have done the same, but being hugged constantly helped him stand up straight. No one could believe what either of them heard or saw.

Naruto pulled Sasuke up and they said their final goodbyes. Once more though, Hinata ran towards Naruto and whispered something into his ear. "That sounds fine to me!" He yelled smiling at Hinata. Everyone was confused and looked at them. Quickly, Naruto picked up Hinata in bridal position. Ino's and Sakura's veins raged on their foreheads. He looked at her and said, "You are beautiful, Hinata. You are one of the cutest girls I know." Hinata blushed as she tried to cuddle up further in his arms. After a couple moments, Naruto asked, "Is that fine?" "N-not y-yet", she said. Hinata began to whisper, "They got to be carried by you first. So I get…" In order to hear her better, Naruto leaned in closer. Hinata saw her opportunity and seized it. She kissed him on the cheek. Naruto felt time slow down as she planted her lips on his cheek, feeling every soft and warm sensation a thousand times over. "I get your first kiss", she said as he looked at her. After she this, Naruto dropped her and said, "COME ON SASUKE! LET'S GO!" He ran off with Sasuke in a motion that seemed like a nervously gleeful skip.

Sakura and Ino both approached Hinata silently, who was on the ground in a daze not believing herself what had just happened. They picked Hinata up and she began to walk home without them, bobbing her head blissfully to the music of her heartbeat. Sakura and Ino ran stopped her and yelled, "THAT WAS UNFAIR! WE DID NOT AGREE TO THAT!"

The fear sank into Hinata as she saw the jealousy and rage in their eyes. Her eyes widened and pleaded, "I-I-I-I'm sorry! Y-you, g-got to be c-carried like his or-prin-princess. It's on-only fair I get a k-kiss first."

"HOW IS THAT FAIR?" They yelled in unison. Too nervous to say anything, Hinata only ran.

Ino put her hand in front of Sakura who was about to give chase, "You're not off the hook yet either. What the heck was with you?! I thought you liked him, but you sounded confused."

Sakura let out a deep breath and smiled. "It's stupid. Rather, I'm stupid. When I'm not beside him I don't feel anything. I care about him as my friend, but when I'm next to him my heart has no doubts about how I feel. It's a stupid crush, just like with Sasuke." Sakura paused in her explanation, noticing Ino beginning to understand.

Ino finished her words and said, "You don't want to lie to Naruto because you really don't know how you fully feel."

Sakura laughed and said, "I guess a woman's love is fickle."

Ino laughed manically, put her hands on her hips, and told Sakura, "That's alright with me. It means I get, Naruto before you get to have a chance with him."

"If you can beat Hinata or me." Sakura let out a gentle laugh, not taking it so seriously as before. "Besides, I'm the one he bought a rose for."

In the direction of the sun, Sasuke and Naruto were off. Sasuke still in laughing shock over the girls all confessing feelings for him, while Naruto kicked every step with joy. Soon their steps turned into a run as the boys began to race each other. "I WON'T LOSE TO YOU!" They yelling at each other every step of the way. The first real step to change was being made as they headed towards the next destination on their journey.

A/N: If you haven't noticed yet, this story is discontinued. I was going to take it down because it is overwhelmingly bad. In a lot of ways, this is a stereotypical bad harem fic. All of that said, I did plan out around 50 chapters to this story.

If someone were to want to learn the actual plot of this story I hinted, I can tell you via message. If you wanted to pick it up (which I seriously doubt), as long as you let me know, I would kindly redirect my story to yours in an updated author note.


	5. A Blissful Nightmare

A/N: There's a recent review that said he'd want the rest of the story summarized to let the few who actually cared about this story to know what happens. I believe this is a fair request since I have no plans on finishing the story. For those who thought this was a new chapter and feel frustrated, I'm sorry. This is the closest thing to a new chapter you'll get unless someone asks/steals the idea and rewrites it.

In chapter 5, the story picks up with Sasuke and Naruto training in a village on the way to Itachi. They train on the road until the town they arrive at is celebrating a festival, which they partake in. The following morning, Sasuke wakes up to find Naruto missing and Itachi hovering over him. Sasuke begins interrogating Itachi, where Itachi answers his questions stoically and thoroughly. After their conversation ends and Sasuke calms down a bit, he questions Itachi about the whereabouts of Naruto's location. Itachi reveals that Naruto has been sent back to the Hidden Leaf, where his memories and nine-tailed fox chakra will be sealed, the former of which is sealed by the beasts own chakra. Hiruzen believes it's inherently dangerous for a child jinchuriki to know what he does. An ANBU black-op brings Sasuke back to the Hidden Leaf, where he encounters a memory stripped Naruto. With a different type of hatred towards the leaf, he channels it into befriending Naruto and training him. In this world, Naruto is far from the bottom of his class thanks to Sasuke's help while Sasuke has a happier childhood with Naruto at his side. The girls see buffoon Naruto again and lose interest in him, particularly when he loses his memories.

The years pass until Naruto becomes a genin with Sasuke and Sakura on his squad. Canon progresses as usual until Orochimaru hits Naruto with a seal to disrupt his chakra, causing Naruto to be slightly unstable but ultimately freed from the memory seal. Stuck inside himself, he was a prisoner watching from the walls of his own mind. Still weak, Orochimaru manages to get his seal onto Sasuke.

Making it into the preliminaries, Naruto ends up fighting Gaara, where a similar fight plays out. After some back and forth, Gaara is redeemed like in canon.

Immediately after the prelims, finding Jiraiya, and in tears at talking to him, Naruto decides to break his rule and tell his sensei his circumstances. Although puzzling, Jiraiya accepts what Naruto claims after providing various levels of proof. Jiraiya suggests to Naruto multi-verse theory, although not in common terms since he'd have no idea what that means. Naruto begins to suspect his time travel has caused ripples across the world, although unsure of what they'd entail.

At the chunin exams, the fourth mizukage shows up as well as the third kazekage. To Naruto's dismay, Orochimaru summons the Fourth Hokage to fight in the reanimation jutsu in this timeline. Activating his nine-tailed fox mode, he overwhelms the third hokage, forcing Naruto to step in. As emotions are high fighting his own father, Kurama eventually relents and agrees to be Naruto's ally. Activating the nine-tailed fox mode, Naruto holds his dad off until he is resealed. Gaara fights the fourth mizukage, the jinchuriki. Orochimaru finishes off Hiruzen quickly, forcing Jiraiya's hand to fight. With a bit of luck and sage jutsu, Jiraiya defeats his former friend- who retreats. As heroes begin to relax, multiple Akatsuki make their presence known and fight to ensure victory over the Leaf Village. Interested in Sasuke's sharingan, Orochimaru attacks the boy. Sakura attempts to defend him, being brutally killed in the process by Anko, the snake's loyal subordinate. Itachi rushes to his brother's aid, killing Orochimaru and Anko, revealing himself to be a Leaf shinobi after all this time. Between Itachi and the other heroes, they push back the handful of Akatsuki members there. After Hiruzen's funeral, Itachi is executed for his crimes of murder. He accepts his fate gladly, knowing he protected Sasuke.

Sasuke is disillusioned with the Hidden Leaf's decision but wishes to fulfill Itachi's place as a spy. A similar offer to Orochimaru is given by the Akatsuki, where Sasuke leaves and reveals to have been given Itachi's mangekyo sharingan. Naruto and Sasuke talk things out but accepts Sasuke as going to become a spy for the village like Itachi was. He wants to fulfill his brother's will.

Jiraiya becomes the fifth hokage, where the newly minted Chunin Naruto is sent to retrieve Lady Tsunade to help unite the village and heal the deeply wounded shinobi from the invasion, among who is a Rock Lee who used five gates against Kisame.

Now, the story gets even less detailed. Naruto's harem slowly reattaches themselves to him while he distances himself from them. Naruto begins to focus on the coming war and the fight against Kaguya since he's nowhere near strong enough yet to defeat her. After the time-skip, events progress as usual until the Rasenshuriken. While fighting the Akatsuki in a similar setting, it's revealed that Sakura is alive and a member of the Akatsuki, who was saved by her partner Tobi. Before, Obito felt careless as Tobi, but he feigned no silly nature. After a drawn-out fight, Naruto is defeated by the Uchiha warrior because he struggles to fight Sakura. He is rescued but at the cost of Sarutobi-sensei's life.

In a strange turn of events, Pain attacks the village and kills the fifth hokage Jiraiya. Naruto proceeds to defeat him, but Pain denies regret over his actions and does not revive the village's casualties. As talks begin on the 6th hokage, many advocate Danzo, Tsunade, or Kakashi with the central divider is how to handle Naruto. When Kakashi withdraws himself from the options, a civil war breaks out between Danzo and Tsunade supporters, where the former wishes to imprison Naruto for the threat he poses to their safety by the Akatsuki and the latter wants to commend him as the village's savior. Believing his help to only worsen the circumstances of the timeline, Naruto leaves the village for a short time where he is met by Sakura and Sasuke, who approach him about joining the Akatsuki and meeting their new leader Tobi.

Agreeing to meet with the man, Naruto speaks in plain terms about the Sharingan user being Obito. However, to Naruto's surprise, the leader is Shisui Uchiha, who never died in this timeline. Allying themselves, they end the Hidden Leaf's Civil war abruptly. Ending the violence, Naruto is named the sixth hokage. As events begin to make less sense, Naruto strongly questions his reality. Sakura wishes to spend the rest of her life with Naruto, and he wants to be with her as well but becomes increasingly disillusioned with how different she behaves. She isn't "the real" Sakura.

Events culminate into the fourth great shinobi war, where different countries are at odds. It's secretly caused by the remaining Akatsuki members (most of which feign themselves as loyal shinobi to different villages) to force a conflict where the jinchuriki's are vulnerable. Shisui becomes the ten-tails jinchuriki upon succeeding with his goal. Unaware, Sasuke fights Shisui to near death and bestows Naruto with his sharingan before leaving the battlefield. Unlocking the Rinnegan instantly, the Sage of Six Paths appears and gives his remnants of chakra as he did in canon upon Naruto. With enough strength to fight against Shisui, he wins in a long drawn out fight only for Kaguya to be summoned anyways. Questioning the nature of his reality, he realizes the being before him isn't Kaguya. As she traps the world in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Naruto fights her off. Able to resist the infinite Tsukuyomi thanks to the Rinnegan, he realizes he was never sent back in time. Naruto was trapped in an infinite Tsukuyomi where he currently experiences the world around him. He already lost to the real Kaguya, and since he wasn't awakened, he knows Sasuke to have died. The actual team seven was dead or experiencing a false reality like he was. Making the infinite Tsukuyomi lucid, he one-shots Kaguya and obliterates her completely. Sasuke is saved, and with his newfound power all casualties from the war are healed or revived.

Naruto ends the war by forcing the kage to stop fighting and takes break the tailed-beast up himself. Without a rival, Naruto becomes a man all kage are loyal to, unintentionally uniting the feudal ninja world under him as the first emperor. He continues to meditate on all his losses and feels miserable, knowing nothing around him is real. Forcing himself to accept the fake world, he eventually turns to denial. What happened in the past was a lucky dream, bestowed by the Sage of Sixth Paths.

"What is reality?" he asks himself one day, coming to the conclusion that which he acknowledges to be real is real. Finally accepting the love Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and any other girl the reader would like to imagine, he relaxes in the first state of bliss he's felt in years. After a glimpse into the life he wanted, with a loving partner(s), best friend Sasuke, and most powerful, respected shinobi in the world. Naruto gazes into the sky to witness the world evaporating into pieces. The Infinite Tsukuyomi was over as his chakra had finally been entirely absorbed by Kaguya. The thought occurs that he is likely the last of all mankind to be consumed. His death is final this time, and he accepts it gladly believing it will quiet his soul's questions, knowing he couldn't accept the world for long.

A/N: If your primary concern is about Naruto's main girl, I probably would chosen Sakura for the purposes of him pursuing his ideal reality. But I might have been salty for her to not be Naruto's canon pairing.


End file.
